
aass_h_5S 

Book_i 






BIOGRAPHY 



OF 



ISAAC HILL, 



OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 



WITH AW 



iiipipi3sr2>a^9 



COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM HIS SPEECHES, 
AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS. 



CONCORD, N.H. 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN F. BROWN. 

1835. 






Entered according to an Act of Congress, bj 

John F. Brown, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District of N. H. 



I I 



Wlleon & Carter, 
Printers; 

CONCORD, N. H. 



1- i 



PREFACE. 



It was a remark of that celebrated female writer Mad- 
ame de-Stael-Holstein, thai the adventures of almost ev- 
ery individual would, in competent hands, supply the 
materials for an interesting novel. The truth of this 
proposjtion, however paradoxical it may at first seem, can 
hardly be doubted. It is from the common events of a 
common Ufe, the excited hopes, the pleasing anticipations, 
the multiplied disappointments, the numerous vexations, 
the unavoidable accidents, the unexpected reversions of 
fortune, which make up the every-day round of human 
existence, connected with the degree of forben ranee, for- 
titude, patience, resignation, prudence and moderation, 
with which all these various and varied occurrences have 
been endured, w'ith their effects upon after life and the 
developement of character, that useful lessons for tlie reg- 
ulation of our own conduct may be deduced and much 
matter of interest and subject of serious contemplation. 
On the other hand, the biography of some startling indi- 
vidual, some man of a million, who, like the flashing 
meteor or wandering comet, dashes his eccentric course 
across the path of the multitude, overthrowing the results 
of human calculation, and heedlessly striking down the 
barriers which mankind have by common consent, erect- 
ed, as the eternal bounds of human enterprize and man's 
daring, may serve as a record of this miracle of the age, 
but would be far more likely to check the rising ambition 
of youth by the immeasurable distance at which its 
events must be contemplated, than to nourish their aspi- 
rations after fame and the possession of an honorable 
memory. 

The object of Biographical writing, it has been aptly 
remarked, is two-fold, — both to impart historical informa- 
tion by a sketch of the life and acts of some eminent in- 



PREFACE. 



tittt' Tet^I ^'^pl^p^g those acts in a true and prop- 
er light, devoid of false coloring or mis-statemenf tn 

miS^fVT"^ T' '°"^^' ^y excitinTfSible 
Wrir f t? i^'^?^ ^ ^" unconquerable disgust and 

horror of the wicked. To effect this latter and by far the 

rrt;;?^^''"' '"'^' "°^^'"g ^«"^d be more appr^oprLte 
particularly m a country where there is no aristocracy 
of- genius and where poHtical advancement is the chi7f 
aim of our young men's ambition, than to note for the 
consideration of youth and theinstruction of ah the pro! 
gressive steps by which an individual has risen thiXh 
his own enterpnze, and by the most unconquerab e peV 

tTon^riifrtoVT""- S'"^^^-^' f--thel?umblest^a: 
tionm life, to an honorable rank and comparative emi- 

Such is the design of this litUe book-a sketch of the 
hfe of a man who has borne no inconsiderable pari k the 
political events of the last twenty years, who ^s d^nt fi 
ed with the interests and success^of one pa ?y and ^ro^" 
nent m his opposition to another, has of cou^-se recdvTd 
his share of partizan abuse and the maliSy of tW 
Tu'Tho^afwi 11!,^^ '""f^''/ ^^^ -ecessf:;;i?otptd 

andS/°""f If."' '^"d to whose industry,Tt:.ly 
LstiSi'o^;' '^"■'*' '" ^"^ P""^°"^^ acquaintance's' wilf bclr 

lei^srb^j:.-^^:^^^^ 

for which the materials were first collcS '^ThT? ^ 
.tated arc of unquestionable antlou"; of the correct' 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

Of ]Vew-Hampsliire. 

—- X— 

Isaac Hill was born of poor but respectable 
parentage. His father, also named Isaac, is a 
native of the present town of West Cambridge, 
then a part of Cambridge, Mass., and known as 
the parish of Menotomy. He was a descendant 
of Abraham Hill of Cliarlestown, who was admit- 
ted freeman 1640, and, leaving two sons, Isaac 
and Abraham, died at Maiden, 13 Feb. 1670. 
Abraham Hill, the grandfather of the subject of 
this memoir, was the fourth in descent from the 
first of that name, (the intermediate generations 
being Abraham, Abraham and Zachariah,) was a 
patriot of the French and Revolutionary wars, 
and died about five and twenty years ago. 
His wife survived him but a few years. Isaac, 
their youngest son, and the father of the^ subject 
of this memoir, was born about the year 1767, 
and is still living. 

Mr. llilPs mother, Hannah Russell, is a descen- 
dant of William Russell, who came from England, 
lived in Cambridge as early as 1645 and left sev- 
jf^ral sons. , She was, likewise, a native of the 
"'^fTparish of Menotomy, but of that part which be- 
"longed to Charlestown. The Menotomy boys were 
1* 



6 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

far-famed among the " sons of liberty" for their 
invincible spirit and undaunted courage, and her 
father, Walter Russell, commanded a company of 
alarmlist at the battle of Lexington, Avhich did 
great service in harrassing the enemy, arresting 
the baggage-wagons, &c. He died 5 March 
1783, aged 45. 

At the house where this patriot and his imme- 
diate ancestors lived and died, Mr. Hill was born 
on the 6th of April 1788, being but sixteen years 
younger than his mother and the eldest of a fami- 
ly of nine children, having three brothers and five 
sisters, all of whom are living, and, with one ex- 
ception, heads of families. The unfortunate 
situation of Mr. Hill's family, which might at first 
view, appear an irreparable injury, in fact proved 
to him a blessing in disguise. His grandfather 
returned, at the close of the war, to take charge 
of a family rendered destitute by the circumstan- 
ces of the times, and was, in a short time, entir- 
Jy ruined in his earthly prospects by the depreci- 
ation of his wages. The shock proved too great 
for his mind to bear, and he became subject to 
that awful calamity, which appears to have been 
constitutional in the family, partial insanity, which 
continued in all the gradations from perfect clear- 
ness of mind to raging madness, till his death. 
His father, by nature an industrious, capable man, 
undertook the charge of a rising family and the 
care of his ruined parent, when, shocking to re- 
late, scarce yix years had elapsed from his mar- 
riage, ere he was overtaken by a similar visitation 
of Providence, and his intellectual faculties al- 
most entirely destroyed. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, - 7 

The whole burden of course fell upon his moth- 
er, and full well did the noble woman fulfil her 
part. Young Isaac, as the eldest of the family, 
was early called to share in his mother's respon- 
sibilities, and at an age, when other children 
are hardly permitted out of the reach of their 
mother's voice, he became to her a useful assist- 
ant, counsellor and friend. Incredible as it may 
seem, this mother, amid all the difficulties, which, 
to a common mind, would have appeared insuper- 
able, contrived to save enough from the wreck of 
their ruined fortunes, to purchase a small farm in 
the town of Ashburnham, fifty miles distant from 
Menotomy. Hither his parents removed, in the 
spring of 1798, and here they both still live. 

From what has been said, it will readily be 
conceived that his advantages in early life, as to 
the attainmentof an education, were exceedingly 
limited. 

Young men, at the present day, can hardly have 
an idea of the extent of the discouragements 
against which an enterprising lad, at that time and 
in the situation in which Mr. Hill was placed, was 
obliged to struggle to obtain the instruction for 
which his young mind thirsted. There existed 
then and in such a place,no public libraries, whence 
might be drawn food appropriate to the growth of 
the intellect, and little opportunity for reading, 
either from the newspapers of the day or from 
private collections of books. That glorious in- 
vention, the Lyceum, which has been, under Prov- 
idence, the blessed means of great good to the 
present generation, and which, let Americans, in 
proportion as they value their political institu- 



8 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

tions, cherish and sustain, had not yet been es- 
tablished, even in the villages and cities of the 
land. In addition to all this, in reference to Mr. 
Hill's particular case, it is to be remarked, that 
the place which his parents had selected for their 
future residence, and where young Isaac passed 
a brief, yet perhaps the most important part of 
his VI hole life, vi^as a stnall and newly settled 
country town. It was here, for a portion of the 
period between the ages of ten and fourteen years, 
and then only during such intervals as the weath- 
er or other circumstances would admit of his be- 
ing spared from the cultivation of the farm, and 
under such instruction as such a town would be 
likely to furnish, that Mr. Hill received most of 
the schooling that he ever enjoyed. 

But, during this period, young Isaac made the 
most of his limited advantages. It was at this 
time, that he laid the foundation of that un- 
tiring industry and indomitable perseverance, 
for which he has ever been distinguished, and 
which have formed the whole secret of his suc- 
cess in private and political life. We have spok- 
en of these four years which Mr. Hill passed at 
Ashburnliam as perhaps the most important era 
in his life. We have ventured the remark, be- 
cause we believe at that age are effected nearly 
all those important modifications of the natural 
disposition and character, which exert an essen- 
tial, an all-powerful influence over the modes of 
thinking and modes of acting in after life. 

But he had manifested at a much earlier period, 
his love of knowledge and desire of instruction. 
Before he was eight years of age, he had read 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 9 

the Bible through in course, dwelling, with partic- 
ular pleasure, upon the historical portions. In- 
deed, historical information was that which he 
most longed to acquire. At six years of age, he 
had greedily laid hold of a brief account of the 
war of the revolution, contained in one of the 
school-books of Webster, which he read till he 
had committed to memory. Then, for want of 
a more complete record of the events of that 
stirring period, he would seek from his grandpa- 
rents and his uncles an account of the martial 
scenes which had occurred in their immediate vi- 
cinity, and in«which they had participated. The 
stories of the " Concord fight" and the burning 
of Charlestown were often described for his 
amusement, with a clearness, because from actu- 
al observation, that laid in his breast the founda- 
tion of that hatred of tyranny and arbitrary rule 
which has ever been the governing trait in his 
character. 

At seven years of age, Mr. Hill participated 
with the elder boys in speaking dialogues, and 
getting up mimic theatricals, in which they were 
encouraged by their instructor. At that period, 
his industry and love of learning, rarely allowing 
him to leave the school room during the hours of 
recreation, to mingle with the sports of his com- 
rades, were held up by the master as worthy of 
imitation. He read every thing which came in 
his way, even from a few tattered leaves of a 
"Call to the Unconverted," which his father 
chanced to own, to the two penny tales which he 
found in the possession of his neighbors. 

Ashburnham, at the period when Mr. Hill re- 



10 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

sided there, was at the distance of twelve miles 
from the nearest post-town. The inhabitants, 
however, for a part of the time, were united in a 
company to take a small weekly paper then print- 
ed at Leominster, each going-, by turns, to bring 
this precious repository of the news of the day. 
When it fell, in its round, into the possession of 
young Hill, every word was greedily devoured 
before it was suffered to drop out of his hands. 
The town, being sparsely settled, the winter 
school, as in many new towns at the present 
time, was kept but a few weeks in each district, 
and the boys were allowed, at the close of the 
school, to attend at some other district, in any 
part of the town. Of this privilege, Mr. Hill glad- 
ly availed himself, even at his tender age, lame 
and of weak constitution, at the cost of a daily 
journey of four or five miles in the severe storms 
of that mountainous region. Rich would he have 
considered himself, could he have gained the sit- 
uation of the humblest charity scholar at a com- 
mon academy ! 

Mr, Hill had, from necessity, been early inured 
to severe labor, but his constitutional infirmities 
did not admit of his following the pursuits of the 
agriculturalist, or those professions in which bod- 
ily strength is the principal requisite. Besides 
this, the younger children were fast growing up 
to fill his place, and he could better be spared 
from the care of the family. Next to the attain- 
ment of an education, it had been his highest am- 
bit-ion to follow the trade of a printer, which he 
had thought would afford him the opportunity of 
obtaining what he most desired- — knowledge. He 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 1 I 

had never seen a printing office, and knew, 
thought nor cared any thing for the severity of the 
labor or the expense of carrying on the business. 

In these views his father and mother acqui- 
esced. 

It was at the age of fourteen, and after the 
enjoyment of such slender privileges, that the 
parents of Isaac Hill, with commendable prudence 
and an honorable desire to contribute to the fu- 
ture welfare of their son, determined to provide 
him with means amply sufficient to render him in- 
dependent of every reverse of fortune, by send- 
ing him to acquire the rudiments of a useful and 
lucrative trade. This was, without doubt, the 
wisest course that could have been pursued. De- 
prived, by their situation and circumstances in 
life of the blessed privilege of giving their son 
a liberal education, they did not, as far too many 
parents do, suffer their child to pass the important 
period of youth, in learning the lessons of idle- 
ness, dissipation and vice ; to grow up, as it were, 
a sort of left-hand member of society and to find 
himself a man in stature and years but destitute 
of the means and destitute of the disposition to 
sustain his proper place among his fellow-men. 

We are all, in some degree, mutually depend- 
ent upon each other — and this dependence is a 
necessary consequence of civilization. But if 
there is any portion of the community which can 
be termed independent, it is the laboring class ;— 
the mechanic and the farmer. They are the 
" bone and sinew of the republic ;" the right hand 
of freedom ; free from the taint of aristocratic 
associations, they are neither prepared servilely 



12 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

to obey or haughtily to command. In our coun- 
try and under our happy form of government, 
those who earn their bread by the sweat of their 
brow are peculiarly fortunate in their situation. 
It is here more particularly, that they assume 
their proper place in society, the first file in the 
ranks of the free ; it is here that they are made 
proudly sensible of their own political importance. 
Government, contrived for the express purpose of 
attaining the '' greatest good of the greatest 
number," is here chiefly based upon a regard for 
their welfare, and instead of being a grinding 
curse to the faces of the poor, it is here particu- 
larly designed to encourage their honest efforts 
and defend them in the possession of their inalien- 
able rights, from the selfish grasp of the purse- 
proud oppressor. The officers of government are 
here, not their masters, but their servants ; not 
placed in authority by divine right, but by the free 
suffrages of a free people. The laboring class 
here are not disfranchised or deprived even par- 
tially of the rights nature has bestowed upon them. 
To them equally with the rest, is open the path to 
political preferment, to honors, to fame, to the 
respect of their fellow citizens. There is, in our 
country no royal road to distinction ; no young 
mechanic need envy the lot of a son of luxury. 
He is now acquiring lessons of manly indepen- 
dence, is learning to think for himself, is gaining 
the rich stores of experience — all, acquisitions 
which eminently fit him for any station, however 
exalted, to which Providence and his own enter- 
prize may yet raise him. The numerous bright 
instances which the history of our own country 



BIOnRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 13 

can furnish, where persevering industry, worth 
and moral principle have triumphed over the for- 
tuitous obstacles of rank and situation in life, are 
so many burning and shining lights for the en- 
couragement of all who feel that they are at 
present below the sphere for which they were by 
nature intended. 

But to return from this digression, to which 
our subject has naturally led us. An unlocked 
for opportunity for the accomplishment of their 
wishes was soon offered Mr. Hill and his parents. 
Mr. Joseph Gushing, a young printer, had just 
established a printing office at Amherst, N. H., 
and was in want of an apprentice. Hearing of 
young Hill, his situation, capacity and wishes, and 
supposing him to be likely to suit his purpose, he 
came to his father's residence to see for himself. 
Young Isaac was much mortified at being found 
by his future master, a genteel young man, in his 
ragged working dress and laboring on the farm, 
but Mr. Gushing was sensible enough to rely more 
upon what he had previously heard of him, than 
upon his casually unprepossessing plight. The 
bargain was soon made with his father, and in a 
short time after on the 3d of December 1802, 
young Hill found himself in company with the el- 
der Mr. Gushing and on his way to a new scene 
of action. 

The first number of the Farmers' Cabinet 
was issued on the 11 Nov. 1802, consequently but 
three numbers had been printed before the com- 
mencement of Mr. Hill's apprenticeship,or rather 
his residence with his master, for he was never 
an indented apprentice. The transition from the 
2 



14 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

drudgery of a small farm in a thinly settled town 
to the bustle of a printing office in a pleasant 
country village, was to Mr. Hill, like an entrance 
into a new world. 

It was in truth an important era in his life ; an 
event which fixed his future destiny. The change 
was great ; the theatre on which he had now en- 
tered was comparatively a vast one. To an in- 
quiring mind such as he possessed, there was much 
that was instructive, even in the dull and labo- 
rious round of the duties of the youngest appren- 
tice. His opportunities for the acquisition of use- 
ful information, were greatly multiplied, and the 
temptations to which his inexperience rendered 
him subject, were equally increased. 

We can afford only a brief space for a detail of 
the particulars of this portion of the life of Mr. 
Hill, of which, much of the information we pos- 
sess, has been acquired from a conversation late- 
ly held with his old master.* Of course what we 
can advance, may be considered authentic. 
He was. during this period, remarkable as an 
excellent, faithful young man. His previously 
formed habits of perseverance and patient, untir- 
ing industry were now confirmed and were exhib- 
ited not less in his daily labors, than in his de- 
votion to intellectual improvement. During a sev- 
en years' apprenticeship, from his boyhood till he 
became of age, not an incident occurred to inter- 



* Mr. Cushins; left Amherst and removed to Baltimore 
about the time of the expiration of Mr. Hill's apprentice- 
ship. He has for nearly thirty years been in business in 
that city as a publisher and bookseller, and is now on® 
of its representatives in the legislature of Maryland. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 15 

rupt the constant liarmony which existed between 
his master and himself. Both parties concur in an 
affectionate remembrance of each others goodqual- 
ities. The one was kind, the other obedient ; the 
master showed no inclination to insist upon an un- 
due subserviency on the part of the apprentice,and 
the latter felt in nowise disposed to rebel against 
reasonable demands. He was conscious that 
whatever might be his fortunes, he was himself 
to be their architect, and that he could hope to ac- 
quire assistance, patronage and support in no other 
way than by his own industry, morality and good 
conduct. He had early been accustomed to as- 
sume important responsibilities ;and the severe les- 
sons which necessity had taught him, were not 
without their fruits. He was remarkable for the 
firmness of his principles and his power to resist 
temptation, and no instance is remembered of 
dereliction on his part from the path of rectitude 
and from the duty which he owed to his God, his 
master and his fellows. 

Besides a faithful attention to his daily labors, 
Mr.Hill became, during this period, a hard student. 
True, his studies and course of reading were very 
desultory, having no other guide than his own 
judgment or inclination, but the information which 
he was enabled to acquire, was precisely of that 
kind most needed for the practical purposes of life. 
He became thoroughly conversant with the general 
routine of business belonging to his profession, to 
which his long apprenticeship enabled him to add 
a perfect practical knowledge of the business. He 
waslong an active and efficient member of a De- 
bating Club, established by the young men of the 



16 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

vicinity, and the Records, during the time he was 
secretary of the Society, r^re still in existence. 
Several of the members of tliis association have 
since found their way, in different parts of the 
world, to comparative distinction and opulence. 
Judge Swann of Ohio is remembered as one. 
It is related, that young Hill, when defeated in 
debate, was inclined to yield to his mortification 
and needed the encouraging voice of a kind mas- 
ter to relieve him of his despondent feelings. 
Mr. Gushing really loved him, placed the most im- 
plicit confidence in his abilities and integrity, and 
often entrusted to him the entire care of the 
office. 

Mr. Hill's industrious habits were further dis- 
played in the acquisition of a beautiful, rapid and 
clerkly style of penmanship — of the rapidity of his 
handwriting, he has to this day certainly lost noth- 
ing. He acquired it wholly by practice, writing 
in his leisure hours, almost incessantly. Ex- 
tracts and annotanda derived from his reading, at 
first afforded employment for his pen. He soon 
launched out into speculations and essays, both 
political and miscellaneous, and his first attempts 
of this descrii>tion are strongly tinged with the 
peculiarities of his intellectual character. Al- 
though the newspaper which was published at the 
office where Mr. Hill was employed, was then 
and always has been since, considered as belong- 
ing to the anti-democratic party,and notwithstand- 
ing his beloved master was a decided thougli 
moderate and consistent federalist, the youthful 
apprentice remained true to the republican prin- 
ciples in which he had been nurtured and from 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILE. l7 

wliich he has never yet swerved. At that early 
period, he often contributed to the public prints 
of the day. 

As was perfectly natural in one of his charac- 
ter who looked forward to the practice of his 
profession as the means of earning his daily bread 
and ensuring a respectable and comfortable sub- 
sistence, Mr. Hill had long contemplated the 
opening ot an office and the establishment of a 
newspaper, whenever the expiration of his appren- 
ticeship should occur. Accordingly, on the fifth 
of April 1809, the day before he was twenty one 
years of age, he left his master and came to 
Concord. 

About six months previous,* the American Pat- 
riot, a small weekly newspaper, had been estab- 
lished at Concord, and published by Mr. William 
Hoit, Jr., a practical printer, who still follows his 
trade and is the senior of his profession in that 
place. It was considered a republican paper, 
and as far as it went was consistent in the defence 
of republican principles and measures ; but it had 
neverbeen conducted with that efficiency and reg- 
ularity, without which, under such circumstances, 
and struggling against such an opposition as that 
with which it had to contend, it was likely to 
prove rather an hindrance to the progress of truth 
than a useful auxiliary in the cause of republi- 
canism. 

Mr. Hill was therefore advised by those who 
knew his principles and felt confidence in his 
abilities, to purchase the establishment, and com- 



* The first No. was issued on the 18 Oct., 180S. 
2* 



18 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

mence the life of the editor of a political news- 
paper. The idea was grateful to him, the trans- 
fer was speedily executed, preparations were 
made immediately and with his customary alac- 
rity, and, on the 18th of April, two weeks after 
he hecame a citizen of Concord, the first number 
of the publication, which has since become so 
deeply rooted in the affections of the people of 
New-Hampshire, was issued from his office. The 
press on which this and many succeeding numbers 
were primed, was one of the old Ramviage kind, 
and the identical press on which had been struck 
the first impression of the old Connecticut Cou- 
rant, forty-five years l>efore; that is, in December, 
1764. This press was afterwards purchased and 
used in printing his religious periodical, by the 
self-taught brother of the type, Elder Ebenezer 
Chase of Enfield. 

At the period of which we are now speaking, 
there were only three printing offices in Concord, 
the business of which, taken together, was very 
small, and the whole of the work of the Patriot as 
well as such jobs as happened to be committed to 
his care, was executed by Mr. Hill himself, his 
younger brother Walter, Vv'ho had been his fellow- 
apprentice and was afterward his partner in busi- 
ness, and a single journeyman. Of course, Mr. 
Hill, in making the change in his situation by his 
removal from Amherst to Concord, and his ad- 
vancement from subordinate to principal, could not 
have contemplated a life of ease or indulgence, 
but rather an increase of labor and responsibility. 
He was a thorough and experienced workman and 
was by no means inclined to suffer his energies 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 19 

to rust through want of exercise. Besides the 
wear and tear of brain, which, as editor of the 
paper, he was forced to underg-o, he took upon 
himself the oversight of the mechanical part of 
the operations, performed six times a week the 
days' work of a journeyman, directed all his pa- 
pers with his own hand, and when circumstances 
required, did not hesitate to circulate them at the 
doors of his village customers. Such industry 
and such resolution, could not go unrewarded. 

The paper, in its early stages was little more 
than half its present size, and the fourth page was 
devoted, under the caption of " The Museum," 
to poetical, literary and miscellaneous pieces. — 
The advertising patronage was at first small, but 
gradually and constantly increased. Mr. Hill 
thought proper to alter its title from ^American 
PairioV to ' The JVew- Hampshire Patriot,^ presu- 
ming, as he said, that a New-Hampshire Patriot 
would always be an American Patriot, and to dis- 
tinguish it from the pseudo-American Patriots 
which had been started in various parts of the 
country. The additional title of the " State Ga- 
zeife," was not added till after the lapse of several 
years. 

The first number of the New-Hampshire Pat- 
riot bears for its motto, the well known words of 
James Madison, "Indulging no passions which 
trespass on the rights of others, it shall be our 
true glory to cultivate peace by observing jus- 
tice." Mr. Hill's introductory address in this pa- 
per, being brief and the first document he ever, 
over his own name, presented to the public, is 
here given entire : 



20 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC IIILL. 

" TO THE PUBLIC. 

" Amidst the conflicts of animosity and infuri- 
ated zeal — when the unerring genius of improve- 
ment is cramped by the persevering advocates of 
corrupt systems of polity — when the evil spirit of 
Federalism is stalking up and down our land 
seeking whom it may devour — when the avowed 
and secret projects of internal and external ene- 
mies are aimed at the vitals of our republic — it 
becomes every one v;hose views are American, 
whose sentiments coincide with those of our fa- 
thers of the revolution, to inculcate the sound 
doctrine of rational liberty, to espouse the cause 
of his country and his God. Educated in the 
simplicity of truth, early taught to revere the pa- 
triots of '75, and feeling the loss of personal con- 
nexions, the fruit of British barbarism at Menot- 
omy and Bunker-Hill, the juvenile years of the 
Editor have been republican ; he has detested 
tyranny, in whatever specious garb she has array- 
ed herself; — and he trusts the judgment of matu- 
rer age never will sorrow for past political follies, 
or wilfully persevere in future errors. The axioms 
of political morality, as expressed by Washing- 
ton in his valedictory, by JErFEp..soN and Madi- 
son each at the commencement of their presiden- 
tial career, and so well practised in all their 
lives, are engraved on the heart of every Ameri- 
can, and are precisely those we would adopt. 
Possessing no motives for personal enmity, having 
quarrels with no men on the score of private 
pique, our cause is the cause of our country — 
our only enemies, those who are seeking its ruin. 

" In our views of parties in this country, we 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. '^1 

cannot consider the contest, as between two po- 
litical sects having equal claims for patriotism and 
love of country ; but as between the friends of 
our own independence, of our government, and our 
rights — and our enemies, the friends of a foreign 
nation, which is striving not only to distract our 
councils and influence the decisions of our gov- 
ernment, but to bring us into a close connexion 
with her own destinies,either virtually or avowed- 
ly. In saying this, we do not say that political 
honesty is exclusively attached to republicans : we 
believe many federalists have acted from upright 
intentions ; hut theirs noio is the cause of the 
Essex Junto, whose leaders, Pickering and Gore, 
have averred that " England has done us no es- 
sential injury" — that she is '' disposed to trtiat 
with us upon the principles of equity and justice" 
— assertions in the face and eyes of the most con- 
clusive evidence to the contrary : — Theirs is the 
cause of Great-Britain, inasmuch as they coin- 
cide with and justify her agressions on the princi- 
ples of right and justice, on the laws of nature 
and of nations : — Theirs is the cause of our ene- 
my, because they stigmatize our government in 
every act whatever its tendency, and because no 
subterfuge, however mean, is left unessayed to 
incite to distrust and opposition. 

*' In our views of foreign nations, we shall trf^at 
alike French injustice and British perfidy. While 
we consider the latter as far outstripping the for- 
mer, we cannot but dwell with more emphasis on 
that power who has ability and inclination to do 
us much injury, than upon bin), who, though he 
liave enough of the last, has comparatively but 



2^ BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

little of the first requisite to molest us. We can- 
not forget the murderof our citizens, the impress- 
ment of our seamen, the seizure and confiscation 
of our property, the many insults and menaces on 
our national flag, &c. &c. 

" That our paper may not be identified with 
some whom we could not hold by the hand as 
brothers, and to discriminate from the many het- 
erodox and spurious patriots that may spring up, 
we have thought proper to substitute in our title 
the word JVeiu-Ham/p shire fox American ; presum- 
ing that a JVeiv- Hampshire Patriot always will 
mean an American Patriot, though every Ameri- 
can may not belong to J\eiv- Hampshire. 

*j Literary amateurs are solicited to •' cull the 
flowers of various science," and, entwined with 
the thread of genius, form a " bouquet of sweets" 
adapted to the tastes of our many scientific read- 
ers. The Museum, when more important consid- 
erations do not prevent, will be exclusively devo- 
ted to literary, scientific and agricultural objects. 
The smiles of the Nine are invoked. Our friends, 
who have promised to aid in the department of the 
Muses, will not forget us in the early stages of 
imbecility. 

'• It is our intention, as soon as the necessary 
implements can be obtained from Philadelphia, to 
enlarge our paper to a size equal to that of any 
paper in the State. It is hoped the patronage of 
an indulgent public will be commensurate with our 
exertions. With our republican friends rests the 
decision, whether the Patriot shall flourish with 
ample support, or shall never advance beyond the 
age of puberty. The utility of a public nc\vspa» 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 23 

per, when })roporly conducted, is too well known 
To be improperly appreciated. To make support 
efficient, it is necessary that our patronage should 
be something' more than merely nominal — that 
when a person subscribes, he should always cal- 
culate on sometime paying-. 

"ISAAC HiLL." 

The New-Hampshire Patriot was commenced 
under very discouraging circunistances. It was 
shortly after the beginning of Mr. Madison's ad- 
ministration, and in the trying period of the Em- 
bargo. The whole country was involved in dis- 
tress, doubt and anxiety, and the commercial por- 
tion were peculiarly harrassed, troubled and 
excited. All confidence was lost, the activity of 
trade was destroyed, and the measures which the 
administration were pursuing, to avoid, if possible, 
a war, and open the eyes of the British Govern- 
ment to a true sense of the relative situation of 
the two parties and their rights according to the 
law of nations, were denounced by the federal 
party as pusillanimous and ineffectual, and cow- 
ardice and irresolution were declared characteris- 
tic of the timid and wavering- policy of Madison 
and his supporters. In New-England, particular- 
ly, this unfortunate situation of affairs rendered 
the administration unpopular. Every attempt 
which had been made to avoid the evils of war 
and make the enemy feel the effects of our dis- 
pleasure by commercial restrictions, seemed to 
have operated, with fatal effect, upon the pros- 
perity of our own citizens. 

In New-Hampshire, perhaps full as much as 



.24 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

in hor sister State of Massachusetts, to advocate 
such a cause might well have seemed a discoura- 
ging task. At the election for members of con- 
gress in the preceding autumn, the federal party 
had carried their ticket by 1500 majority. In 
the spring of 1809, that inflexible patriot and up- 
right man, John Langdon, who was identified, as 
he always had been, with the republican party, 
and against whom a temporary feeling had been 
excited on account of certain judicial appoint- 
ments, v*^as superceded in the gubernatorial chair, 
by Jeremiah Smith, though by a small majority.— 
Judge Smith was, it is well known, a leader in the 
ultra New-England federal party. He was to 
New-Hampshire, what Strong and Gore and 
Pickering were to Massachusetts, and Hillhouse 
and Goodrich to Connecticut. In the Presiden- 
tial election of 1808, he was one of the electors 
and gave his vote for Charles C. Pinckney, in op- 
position to the republican candidate. He was a 
man of talents and influence, and his politics were 
well understood prior to his election by the peo- 
ple. That he was, guided by their present feel- 
ings, their fair choice, could not then be doubt- 
ed. 

But Mr. Hill was in nowise daunted at this im- 
posing array of influence, learning and numeri- 
cal strength. He immediately commenced his 
eflx)rts for enlightening the public mind. At the 
session of the legislature in Jtme, Gov. Smith 
delivered his inaugural or annual speech, at the 
commencement of which he professed to consider 
himself the ' representative of all the people,' but 
before the close, displayed uncovered the cloven 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 25 

foot, entered diffusely into partizan arguments and 
appeals, and made rather indecorous allusions to 
some of the executive appointments of his immedi- 
ate predecessor in office. The legislature, on their 
part, were not backward in demonstrations of the 
same spirit. Little business was done other than 
a series of party measures and the introduction 
and adoption of a violent ansv^er to the speech of 
his Excellency. Mr. Hill, with a bold and mas- 
terly hand, attacked their measures in a series of 
powerful articles, exposed their sophistry, put to 
flight their arguments and proved himself a tower 
of strength in the cause of truth. To his efforts, 
was it owing, almost wholly, that our beloved 
State did not at that time become as deeply en- 
thralled in the bands of slavery as her southern 
neighbor. 

In proportion as the power of his pen began to 
manifest itself, did the vituperation and abuse 
which was unsparingly poured upon his head, in- 
crease. The vials of wrath were opened upon 
him, and those who had at first ridiculed the 
beardless boy, became convinced that the young 
David was no contemptible antagonist. ' We 
have hit them for they flutter,' was the remark of 
Mr. Hill. Perhaps in the whole course of his po- 
litical life, never were more falsehoods circulated 
or denunciations poured upon him, than during 
the first four years after the establishment of the 
Patriot. A paper in Concord was particularly vio- 
lent and abusive in its language, and the succes- 
sor of his old master, in the editorial care of the 
Amherst Cabinet, was little behind it. It was 
said that Governor Langdon was the virtual own- 
3 



26 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

er of the Patriot; and the tale was persisted in, 
in spite of the assertion of Mr. H. to the contra- 
ry. Perhaps not the most ridiculous of the ob- 
jections made against his character, was the as- 
tounding fact tiiat some astute antiquary had dis- 
covered, that Mr. Hill was, bona fide, a lineal 
descendant, on both sides, from the first witches 
who were hung at Salem ! This, perhaps, ac- 
counted, in their opinion, for the species of sorce- 
ry by which he seemed to acquire the affections 
of the people — for Mr. Hill was much encouraged 
by the support and such substantial support too, 
as printers love, of his republican friends. Be- 
fore the end of the year, the size of the Patriot 
was very considerably enlarged, and in August, 
its patronage was such as to call forth the follow- 
ing acknowledgement from the editor : 

" It has never been our wish to bluster about 
the number of our subscribers — about our twen- 
ty, or thirty, or forty new names each month, or 
the prospect of increasing patronage ; but, for the 
information of certain gentlemen (particularly in 
the soulh) who take great pains to belittle our es- 
tablishment, and to impress a belief that it is not 
generally patronized by the republicans, we would 
state that the number of actual subscribers to the 
J\r. H. Patriot exceeds eightf.ex hundred— 
three or four hundred more, we presume to say, 
than the books of any (avowed or impartial) fed- 
eral paper in the State can exhibit. To convince 
the editor of the correct ground he stands on, he 
has the satisfaction to witness a continued aug- 
mentation of his list, and among his names those 
the most respectable in the State : an average in- 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 27 

crease of one hundred each month since he com- 
menced, has crowned his labors. 

" The inexperience and youth of the editor of 
the Patriot claim indulgence and charity from 
the more mature in age and judgment. Though 
he shall always advocate the immutable principles 
ingrafted into our constitutions and the rights of 
man, he will never wilfully step aside from the 
path of rectitude — never deviate from the truth 
to exculpate the unjust — convinced that the truth 
alone is sufficient to defend the principles which 
are the motives of action to republicans. Assail- 
ed, as our republican institutions are, by corrup- 
tion and foreign intrigue, by the advocates and 
palliators of foreign injustice and wickedness — it 
were criminal not to advocate our rights with ardor ' 
and a degree of warmth. As in the times of our 
revolutionary struggle, those who will not oppose 
British aggressions and tyranny, who are even 
indifferent whether we should be manacled with 
the chains of slavery, or should be free and inde- 
pendent — are to be counted as among our enemies. 
Every republican at this time will not hesitate to 
express his sentiments freely ; and honest federal- 
ists, we are happy to observe, do not restrain their 
indignation at British perfidy." 

This, it is to be remembered, was immediately 
after the renewal of the non-intercourse act, and 
at the period when the whole community were 
convulsed by that worst of evils, a distrust of their 
currency, and when the failures of Banking cor- 
porations were producing real distress. The ob- 
loquy of all this unfortunate state of things was 
thrown upon the supporters of the administration, 



28 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

and it is a fact, that at this gloomy period, the 
Patriot was the only newspaper in the State whose 
editor was not a federalist. Very many of their 
prints, then as now, made professions of impar- 
tiality, but in these pretended neutrals, Mr. Hill 
found his most insidious and effective enemies ; 
and against them, he in a great measure directed 
his efforts. 

As the spring election of 1810 approached, the 
exertions of both parties were redoubled. The 
circulation of the Patriot was illegally obstructed 
— the republican candidate for Governor, the pat- 
riot Langdon, was called by every base term that 
the malice of despair could suggest — he was de- 
clared to be in favor of banking monopolies, to be 
in his dotage, dead in law, and ineligible to ofRcc. 
Gov. Smith was the candidate of the anti-repub- 
lican party. The battle was gallantly fought and 
nobly won — it resulted in a complete republican 
triumph in every branch of the government. It is 
interesting as Avell as useful to review these past 
scenes of party strife and political history, nor 
indeed would the life of Mr. Hill be complete 
without a relation of these events, with which he 
is so intimately identified. 

His paper soon became prominent in the de- 
fence of republican principles, and the sarcasm of 
Jiis pen a scorpion to those who deserved its in- 
fliction. Even grave members of congress con- 
sidered him worthy their notice, and his manly, 
independent course procured for him, this year, a 
personal assault ; — that last resort of a coward 
writhing under a sense of his own shame. In 
April, 1810, he was attacked and struck in the 



BIOGRAriiY OF ISAAC HILL. ^9 

Streets of Concord, by a citizen of the town and 
a member of the legal profession. An attempt 
was rfiade by some of the federal presses, to ex- 
ult at this disgraceful event as a species of hon- 
orable triumph, but this dishonorable spirit was 
soon checked by the universal reprobation of all 
lovers of peace and good order. The application 
of Lynch law is not consonant with the spirit and 
disposition of the puritan blood of New-Eng- 
land. 

The malignity of the opposition, soured by re- 
cent defeat where they had thought themselves 
secure of victory and attributing the overthrow 
of their darling hopes and cherished projects 
principally to the unwearied eflbrts of Mr. Hill, 
aided by the personal popularity of Langdon, can 
hardly be appreciated, in its length and breadth, 
by the young men of the present day. They vv^ill 
with difficulty believe what is nevertheless a 
mournful fact, that that revolutionary patriot and 
venerable chief magistrate was publicly burnt in 
effigy and his soul solemnly consigned to the care 
of the fallen angels, and that the editor of the 
Patriot was traduced and abused even for his per- 
sonal defects.'^ 

One groat secret of Mr. Hill's influence and 
success in his vocation, was the moderate estimate 
Avhich he was always inclined to make, of the re- 
sult of future elections. He preferred that his 



* Take the following as an instance of the spirit that 
prompted their actions : — " If Thomas Jefferson had a 
thousand lives, he deserves to be hung a thousand dif- 
ferent times as high asHaman." — Concord Gaz. 5 Feb. 
1811. 

3* 



so BIOGRAPIIV OF ISAAC HILL. 

readers should be favorably disappointed than that 
by his representations, they should be indu- 
ced to expect more than the result would actually 
justify. Hence, was produced a mutual confidence 
which tended to the advantage of both parties. — 
It would be well if editors would more generally 
attend to the operation of this principle. In 
September of this year, the election took place 
for representatives in congress. Prior to the 
election, twelve newspapers were actively em- 
ployed in the canvass, and these were distributed 
into every nook and corner of the State. Of 
these twelve, ten were federal, — democrats have 
always been remiss in not taking pattern from the 
enemy in this respect. The power of truth un- 
assisted is not always sufficient to counterbalance 
numbers, influence and momentary impulse. — 
Yet, notwithstanding the unparallelled exertions 
of the opposition and the discouraging situation 
of public affairs, two republicans were elected, 
and of the remainder of the candidates, there was 
no choice. 

In 1811, the March election resulted in a sig- 
nal triumph of the democratic party. It was 
placed, too, distinctly on the ground of peace or 
war. Mr. Hill, believing further negotiation use- 
less, and exasperated, in common with every good 
citizen, at the delays and prevarications of the 
British government, had long advocated a resort 
to arms as the only mean of preserving national 
honor. In April, he took his brother Walter 
Russell as his partner in business, and in an edit- 
orial address to his patrons, acknowledged with 
gratitude the unusual degree of public support 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 31 

he had received, and the indulgence which had 
been manifested for the unintentional errors of 
youth and inexperience. During this period, he 
commenced, for the public benefit, a periodical 
publication of the debates in congress, on the in- 
teresting subjects which then engrossed the atten- 
tion of the National legislature. 

In 1812, Gov. Langdon declined a re-nomina- 
tion and William Plumer was supported by the 
republican party as his successor in office. This 
gentleman had been a federalist; but like Adams, 
Wolcott, Gray, Pinkney and other patriotic men, 
in the time of his country's peril, came manfully 
to her relief and of course found himself opposed 
by his former friends. The apostate traitor, the 
crafty lawyer was held up in bold relief in con- 
trast with their candidate, John Taylor Gilman ; 
a man who had been long a faithful servant of the 
people, and who, in his old age, however fallen, 
still could lay claim to the gratitude of the public 
for his long and patiotic services. These circum- 
stances operated to Mr. Plumer's disadvantage, 
and he was accordingly left, by an exceedingly 
close vote, in the minority. The state of parties 
was, however, clearly manifested by a return of a 
republican majority in both branches of the legis- 
lature, and there having been no choice between 
Plumer and Gilman, the latter having received a 
plurality only, the former was elected Governor in 
a legislative convention. 

Mr. Hill, during this violent party contest at 
home, at the time the new embargo law,^ the 



'V. Appendix A. 



S2 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

hostile preparations which the state of the times 
demanded, and the disclosure of John Henry's 
traitorous correspondence, made every patriotic 
man tremble at the sense of his country's danger, 
wavered not from the cause, which, from his very 
infancy, he had been pledged to support. At 
length the long-expected Declaration arrived. 
Tnstead of a neutral, the country assumed the as- 
pect of a beligerent, and, as might have been 
expected, loud were the denunciations of the 
British party. The inconsistency which they had 
displayed by such a course ; — the very individuals 
who had reproached the government for pusillan- 
imity and boasting that it could not be kicked Into 
a war, now, in the loudest terms deprecating the 
measure which they had recommended, — and the 
motives of such conduct, were set forth by Mr. 
Hill as follows : 

" It were an endless task to notice all the ab- 
surdities and inconsistencies of the party which 
is making at the present moment so loud a hue 
and cry for peace. " Peace, Peace, Peace," 
continually sounds in our ears, as if there were a 
metrical charm in the word itself that would at 
once batter down the administration. 

" Six months ago these loud declaimers for 
peace called for more energy in the government 
— they accused the administration of cowardice — 
Mr. Quincy in Congress said the American gov- 
ernment '• could not be kicked into a war." The 
same men told us that if Congress would declare 
war against Great-Britain they would support it — 
but they never would support a " weak and pusil- 
lanimous administration." 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 33 

"If the clamors of the federal faction were cal- 
culated to procure a speedy and honorable peace, 
they would be entitled to some praise. But only 
look at the thing. Not a man of the federal par- 
ty that cannot be made to acknowledge we have 
cause of war against Great-Britain. Now if we 
have cause, why ail this noise about it — why does 
this faction " cry aloud and spare not " against 
the government for having declared war ? For 
the same reason that they opposed the Embargo 
— for the same reason that they opposed the non- 
importation and non-intercourse acts — to invite fur- 
ther aggressions and encourage our enemy. If they 
wished for an honorable peace, the government 
has declared war to obtain it — and why not sup- 
port the government ? But no — they do not wish 
for honorable peace — that would make our nation 
prosperous and happy, and make all classes of 
people contented with their own government: 
hence the loud cry of the British faction for an 
inglorious peace, a peace with submission and de- 
gradation : the leaders of the British party know, 
if we obtain an honorable peace, their hopes are 
gone forever ; and hence they wish to protract 
our difficulties by charging them to the govern- 
ment, and impressing our enemies with a belief 
that they may do with us as they list, because we 
are a divided people. 

" The federalists say our government wishes 
for the destruction of commerce ; and to prove 
this point they adduce the embargo, non-inter- 
course and war. These they say were intended 
for the annihilation of commerce. We aver that 
that they were intended to foster and protect com 



34 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

merce ; and had it not been for the treasonable 
opposition of the federal party, we have not a 
doubt tliat our commercial, neutral rights would 
long ago have been respected by the British. — 
But the violence of that opposition induced the 
Tenth Congress to abandon the Embargo. — Non- 
intercourse was substituted : this has produced a 
powerful effect on Great-Britain — it has produced 
a partial change in her Ministry, and a conditional 
revocation of her piratical Orders in Council. 
Non-intercourse has been followed by war, and we 
have nothing to fear but the unprincipled, the mad 
opposition of a few incendiaries who are protected 
in the bosom of our mild govcrnnient, that our 
commerce will be protected on the ocean. If we 
can calculate any thing from the effect our res- 
trictive measures have produced on Great-Britain, 
we may calculate with certainty that the mag- 
nanimous stand taken by our government will pro- 
duce all the effects anticipated. We want nothing 
more than justice — and justice we will have, if 
it is not prevented by the clamors of a faction 
whose aim it is to stab the vitals of our liberty, 
and make us forever subservient to Great-Britain. 
Our government is the friend of commerce : to 
defend commerce against the piracy of Great- 
Britain it has declared war. Those who oppose 
this war oppose commerce, and are its only ene- 
mies." 

At the present time, both of the great political 
parties claim, through their organs, to have sup- 
ported this war. But however universally does 
odium attach to the opponents of a war, now so 
generally believed to have been just and patriotic. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 35 

it is certain that at that period, the commencement 
of hostilities was attended with a momentary panic 
and revulsion in public feelings. The federalists 
took advantage of this inauspicious state of things. 
An election for members of congress and for 
electors of President was to take place in the 
autumn, and the important results that depended 
upon its decision justified recourse to ^extraordi- 
nary measures. They became all things to all 
men to effect their ends, and their efforts were 
attended with but too great success. They car- 
ried their ticket by a small majority, and sent to 
Congress a man who has since become the strong 
hold of New-England vvhiggism, but who was 
as noted then for political management as he has 
since been on a larger scale. 

The more violent of the federal leaders seem 
to have acted throughout this whole war, on the 
determination 

* To rule the nation if they could, 
But see it damned ere others should.' 

Early in the spring of 1813, they commenced 
their measures to preserve the ascendency they 
had gained. Their thorough organization by 
means of the Benevolent Societies, which sustain- 
ed a continued correspondence and inter-commu- 
nication and thus effected a regular and simulta- 
neous system of operations, was to them of the 
greatest advantage. The result of their endeavors 
was the election of their candidate Oilman, by a 
majority much less than that of the previous au- 
tumn. The editor of the Patriot, always moderate 



36 BIOGRAPHY OF ISA.AC HILL. 

in his assertions, had not anticipated the triumph 
of his candidate, although he had been unremitted 
in his exertions to bring about so desirable an 
event. His paper had been, in 'the mean time, 
quietly gaining in the affections of his republican 
friends. In his yearly address, he states that his 
subscribers exceeded three thousand in number, 
and declares his confidence that no paper in that 
part of the country, was so generally patronized. 
The meeting of the Legislature this year will 
long be remembered by our citizens, for the vio- 
lence of its measures, and the confusion which 
they caused throughout the community. The 
Governor made a speech full of the most declam- 
atory matter against the Executive of the Union, 
and the majority of the legislature were not behind 
his Excellency in their denunciatory responses. — 
By a series of successful manoeuvres and artful 
management, a quondam, time-serving republican 
having first been elected and persuaded to decline, 
a violent federalist, one of the exiled trio that now 
grace the city of Boston, was sent to the United 
States Senate. But the most alarming measure 
was the attack made upon the Judiciary. To get 
rid of the Judg-es that then held their places upon 
the Supreme bench, constitutional scruples were 
overcome,the courts were entirely remodelled, the 
old ones abolished, Ex-Governor Smith receiving 
the appointment of Chief Justice, and thelateChief 
Justice Livermore, made one of his associates.— 
The Judges, who found themselves thus uncere- 
moniously dismissed from the service of the public, 
declared the law to be unconstitutional and held 
their Court in the usual manner. In several 



BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILfc. 37 

counties, where there were republican Sheriffs 
and Clerks, these officers obeyed the old court as 
the only constitutional and supreme tribunal ; in 
others, the new court vv^as recognized ; and in 
some, both setts of Judges attempted to occupy 
the same room at the same time. Inflammatory 
appeals were made to the public by both parties ; 
the course of justice was stayed and universal 
confusion prevailed in the community. Governor 
Gil man thought it necessary to convene an extra 
session of the legislature ; the refractory sheriffs 
were removed, and obedience to the authority of 
the new Judiciary enforced by legislative enact- 
ments. During all these party measures, intes- 
tine dissensions and national concerns, the pen of 
Mr. Hill was busily employed. The columns of 
liis paper were filled with judicious and power- 
fully-written articles upon the various subjects 
that then agitated the public mind. He was partic- 
ularly prominent in the bold stand which he took 
against the usurpations of the legislature and the 
violence of the Executive, and drew upon himself 
the full measure of their reprobation. 

In 1814, primary meetings were held in the 
respective counties and districts, by both parties, 
and active measures taken for the ensuing cam- 
paign. Mr. Hill was almost always called upon 
to act as Secretary of those conventions held in 
his own district. The same candidates were put 
in nomination, and the same result ensued. The 
federal candidate had a majority of about eight 
hundred. Had a fliir representation of the views 
of all the citizens been made, there is not a doubt 
that the republicans would have proved victorious. 
4 



88 BIOaRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

For at this very time, it is to be remembered, that 
there were absent from the State, several thous- 
ands of her brave sons fighting the battles of tlieir 
country ; all of whom, without a doubt, would 
have gone, heart and hand for the cause of de- 
mocracy at the ballot-box as well as in the field. 

It was in the early part of this year, that Dan- 
iel Webster, one of the representatives from New- 
Hampshire, made his celebrated, his eloquent 
speech, upon the Army Bill, on the floors of Con- 
gress. It abounded in violent denunciations of 
the Administration and its measures, and ridiculed 
the efforts and operations of our patriotic soldiery. 
It declared the war to be wicked and inglorious ; 
in 1806, the same man had said, in a public ora- 
tion, that ' America had sufficient cause for war 
with Great Britain.' This speech, which it has 
been thought prudent to omit in the late collec- 
tion of Mr. Webster's works, Mr. Hill attacked 
in his paper, and from the weak arguments and 
unpatriotic sentiments which it contained, extend- 
ed his remarks to the character of its author. — 
This was tlie first bitter pill of opposition that 
Mr. Webster was destined to receive in his own 
State, and to which, he so pathetically alluded on 
a late i>ublic occasion. 

At the meeting of the legislature in June 1814, 
it was discovered that three out of the five coun- 
sellors were returned republican. It became ab- 
solutely necessary to pick a flaw somewhere, in 
order to have the Executive branch of the gov- 
ernment, as well as the legislative, in federal 
hands. An illegality was supposed to have been 
discovered in the proceedings of the Portsmouth 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 39 

town meeting. Daniel Webster was brought be- 
fore the legislature to demand, on this ground, 
the rejection of the votes, and the consequent 
expulsion from the council-board, of the venera- 
ble Elijah Hall, the coadjutor of Langdon and 
the companion-in-arms of Paul Jones. The 
votes were rejected, but when the election of a 
counsellor to fill the vacancy came before a con- 
vention of both houses, the consciences of a few 
would not allow them to assist in defeating the 
express will of the people, and Mr. Hall was le- 
gally elected by a majority of two votes. This 
result saved New-Hampshire from the disgrace 
of a participation in the Convention at Hartford, 
in December. It is well understood that Gover- 
nor Gilman urged the appointment or election of 
delegates to represent theState in that convention, 
and that it was only by the firmness of his repub- 
lican counsellors, that the measure was defeated. 

It may be said that these details have nothing 
to do with the life of Mr. Hill. Yet, that gentle- 
man's biography can hardly be accounted perfect, 
unless it contains some account of those meas- 
ures of public moment, the consideration of which 
engrossed his whole attention, and employed all 
his time ; which his efforts often materially affect- 
ed. We pass on. 

Many of the clergy had injudiciously taken a 
prominent part in the political disputes of the 
day ; had proclaimed the war from the pulpit aa 
unjust, unholy, favoring the cause of Anti-Christ. 
These denunciations were received by many as sa- 
cred, inspired ; and religious enthusiasm was thus 
made to combine with party machinery and tho 



40 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

basest ambition, in clogging the wheels of gov- 
ernment and procuring disgrace to the country. 
The tone of the federal papers,tGo, at the close of 
I8I43 had reached the height of treasonable vio- 
lence.* Against all these powerful influences, was 
Mr.Ilill-, in his own State almost alone,called upon 
to struggle, and was a stone left unturned or an 
argument unanswered, his readers were dissatis- 
fied. A series of Essays, over the signature of 
A Layman, and entitled ' An Address to the Cler- 
gy, on their opposition to the Government,' un- 
derstood to have been from the pen of Gov. 

* The reader may be surprised to learn that such sen- 
timents as the following received the support and appro- 
bation of a large and powerful party in New-England : 

" My plan is to withhold our money and make a sep- 
arate peace." — Daily Advertiser. 

*' In times past, there have been much talk and loud 
menaces, but little action by the adherents of reform in 
New-England. Now, we shall hear little said and much 
done. — The plan is, to frame a new government. The 
new constitution is to go into operation as soon as two 
or three States shall have adopted it." — Federal Repub- 
lican. 

" New-England is unanimous and we announce our 
irrevocable decree, that the tyrannical oppression of 
those, who at present usurp the powers of the constitu- 
tion, is beyond endurance and we will resist it." — Bos- 
ion Ceniinel. 

*' We will begin the work of New-England independ- 
ence." — Ibid. 

The above are only specimens, selected only for their 
brevity. Long and elaborate essays were written in de- 
fence of a separation of the States. Many of the pub- 
lished Washington Benevolent orations were couched in 
■till bolder language. Against such a desperate faction, 
did Mr. Hill find himself arrayed. 



BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC lllLL. 41 

Plumer, appeared in the Patriot, and were after- 
wards collected in a more durable form. Tt waa 
Mr. Hill's peculiar province to silence the objec- 
tions of cavillers, to expose the weakness of ar- 
gument where any argument was attempted ; to 
lay open the concealed malignity and treason of 
federal papers, and to encourage the drooping 
spirits of his friends. A venerable republican 
citizen of Concord, lately deceased, has been 
heard to declare, that Mr. Hill's paper was, in 
this war, of more essential service to the country 
than the combined efforts of a thousand soldiers. 
And, without doubt, the influence which he ex- 
erted upon public opinion, particularly in a State, 
where the opposition were so active, w^as of incal- 
culably greater importance in strengthening the 
sinews of government, than a mere array of phys- 
ical, military strength. 

In 1815, a society was formed in this State, 
under the name of ' The Friends of Union,' the 
object of which was chiefly to counteract in some 
measure, the' mischievous influence of the secret 
associations which disgraced the names of Wash- 
ington and Benevolence. Mr. Hill was chosen 
its secretary. This year is distinguished by the 
return of peace. Chittenden of Vermont, Strong 
in Massachusetts, and Jones in Rhode Island, 
ashamed of the part they had acted in thwarting 
the wishes and nullifying the efforts of the general 
government, or fearing the reprobation of the peo- 
ple, thought it prudent voluntarily to decline being 
considered as candidates for the gubernatorial 
chair at the ensuing election. In our own State, 
Mr. Oilman, probably actuated by similar motivea, 
4* 



42 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HfLL* 

was wise enough to follow their example. Great 
difficulty was experienced by the federalists in 
bringing- forward a suitable person for his succes- 
sor. Dr. Goddard, a recreant democrat, was at 
first nominated, but he declined ; Judge Farrar 
was then named as a candidate, but was after- 
wards withdrawn, and finally, after many fruitless 
attempts, James Sheafe of Portsmouth was fixed 
upon as the last hope of the party. But in vain ; 
the sun of their ascendancy was eclipsed ; the 
dynasty was overthrown, and has ne.ver since 
succeeded in establishing itself upon the down- 
fall of democracy in New-Hampshire. Plumer, 
the republican candidate, was known to be a man 
of genuine talents. Sheafe possessed no such 
recommendation, and it operated much to the dis- 
advantage of his friends, whose politics were sup- 
posed to be identified with those of their candi- 
date, that the original document was lodged in 
the office 4f«^he, "Secretary of State, which prov- 
ed that he had been obliged to give bonds, during 
the Revolution, to save himself from imprison- 
ment as a tory. Mr. Hill published this instru^ 
ment and used the most strenuous exertions to 
effect a revolution in the politics of, the State. — 
His efforts were, at the succeeding spring elec- 
tion, crowned with complete success. 

In August 1815, Mr. Hill's name appeared once 
more upon his paper, as sole editor and publisher, 
the partnership which had heretofore existed be- 
tween him and his brother, having been dissolv- 
ed. 

It was in this year that the Dartmouth College 
controversy commenced. It was continued, as 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 43 

all will remember, with the greatest acrimony ; 
the most intense interest was excited throughout 
this State and Vermont at every scrap of fact or 
argument on the subject ; men who had never 
before been found among the advocates or oppo- 
nents of the interests of literature, now took 
sides and zealously prepared for the contest. It 
is by no means our intention to enter into the de- 
tails of this unfortunate controversy. Suffice it 
to say, that Mr. Hill's paper took the lead in the 
opposition to the proceedings of the old trustees 
and more than one half of its editorial matter 
from this time to the year 1819, relates to this, 
then the all-absorbing topic. It is known that 
the grounds which Mr. Hill had taken, were gen- 
erally approved ; that the legislature of New- 
Hampshire remodelled the institution so as to 
make it and its officers conform to the general o- 
pinion ; that the college appealed to the Sirperior 
Court by whom it was decided that the act of the 
legislature was constitutional ; and that a further 
appeal was thence made to the Supreme Judicial 
Court of the United States, where this decision 
was promptly reversed, the law remodelling the 
college, declared unconstitutional and the institu- 
tion again established in statu quo ante helium. 

It fell to Mr. HilFs lot to make severe animad- 
versions upon the conduct and speeches of Dan- 
iel Webster, the chief champion of the college, 
and it is owing in the main to his subsequent ex- 
ertions that the real political character of that 
great orator, is so well understood in his native 
State. 

In the spring of 1816, as has been before men- 



44 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC llIl.L. 

tioned, a complete revolution was effected in the 
politics of the State. The election was put 
mainly on the ground of religious freedom. A 
species of sectarian intolerance, certainly not the 
native growth of the soil, had nevertheless taken 
deep root in New-Hampshire. It was, to some 
extent, fostered by law ; every citizen, whatever 
might be his own tenets, being obliged to furnish 
liis quota towards the support of some religious 
teacher in the town where he resided. The ten- 
dency of such a law was to legalize many acts 
of individual injustice, and to throw great power 
into the hands of the predominant sect ; and 
the conduct of many clergymen, during and sub- 
sequent to the war, seemed to show that they 
felt fully the political importance which the law 
had given them, and which did not naturally at- 
tach to their ministerial functions. In several 
instances these worthy preachers of the gospel 
actually prosecuted for their iylhes with an over- 
bearing insolence that any Irish Catholic priest 
might have envied, and recovered heavy sums in 
the courts of law. The grievance at length be- 
came intolerable. Mr. Hill, as might naturally 
have been inferred from his previous lite, was 
foremost in his denunciations of such a system, 
than which nothing can be imagined more repug- 
nant to the spirit of our institutions. His oppo- 
sition to the old trustees of Dartmouth College, 
might, in some degree, have been prompted by 
the supposition that they, as well as the federal 
party generally, were active in sustaining this o- 
dious species of intolerance. 

Gov. Plumer received a greater vote than had 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 45 

ever before been cast in the State for any one 
candidate. In the senate there were eight repub- 
licans and in the other branches of the govern- 
ment, a proportionable preponderancy. In the 
Governor's Message, a reduction of salaries, the 
passage of a Toleration law, the revocation of 
the charter of Dartmouth College, and a remod- 
elling of the Judiciary, were the principal meas- 
ures recommended to the action of the legisla- 
ture. They were all supported by Mr. Hill. — 
But the consideration of the Toleration law was, 
by some management, procured to be postponed. 
Dartmouth University was founded on the ruins 
of the old college, and Gov. Gilman's Judiciary 
exchanged for a new system. Of the appoint- 
ments made under the last-named act, a large 
minority belonged to the opposite party ; evincing 
a candor and moderation, the more to be recom- 
mended, because so rarely met with in a party, 
which, after a long struggle, at last finds itself in an 
overwhelming majority. 

In the fall of 1816, came on the most impor- 
tant election, in which freemen can be called to 
participate. It was to select a ticket of electors 
for the choice of President and Vice President. 
The election of members to congress was fixed 
at the same time. The federalists had never en- 
tirely lost all hopes of regaining their former as- 
cendancy. They saw the present to be a favor- 
able opportunity, and their efforts equalled those 
of former times. Each party proposed its strong- 
est men, and every editor entered zealously into 
<the contest. The ticket which the republicans, 



46 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

with Mr. Hill at their head, supported, prevail- 
ed. 

The session of the legislature which ensued, will 
long be remembered for its violence. The minority 
was large and included in its number, several of 
the most talented men in the State. Everything 
that could be devised, was carried into effect to 
thwart the wishes and defeat the favorite meas- 
ures of the republicans. Mr. Hill's pen was un- 
usually active in exposing their practices, occa- 
sionally mingling with his searching arguments, 
a little pleasantry, ridicule or satire. By such a 
course, by his activity and peculiar talent in telling 
unpleasant truths, he drew upon himself the con- 
centrated hatred of the federal members. Their 
petty malignity finally found a vent. 

In the report of the proceedings of the legis- 
lature, published weekly in the Patriot, there 
appeared a version of the remarks of a certain 
member on the federal side of the house, who 
never spoke without exciting laughter at the no- 
vel style of elocution and oratory adopted, which 
report, from its very resemblance to the original 
speech,'^ was calculated to do no great credit 
to the speaker. In caucus assembled, it was a- 
greed that a favorable opportunity was now pre- 
sented to wreak their spite upon poor Hill. It 



*The speech was upon the subject of the location of 
the State 1 louse, and it may amuse the people of Con- 
cord to learn that the speaker was very much troubled 
lest, if the present beautiful site were determined upon, 
the frogs would pop up their heads through the cracka, 
and, by their croaking, disturb the deliberations of leg- 
islative wisdom. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 4< 

was towards the close of the session and a bare 
republican majority remained. Accordingly, the 
aggrieved individual, Col. P. of Jaffrey, introduced 
the following resolution : 

" Whereas the editor of the New-Hampshire Patriot, 
printed in this town, has insulted members of this house, 
by mutiiatiug their observations made herein, and in 
other instances, has basely impeached the motives of 
honorable members of this house in the discharge of 
their official duties, and considering that this abuse is 
eminently difierent from that liberty of the press which 
is tho glory of the American people ; Therefore resolv- 
ed. That the House of Representatives highly disap- 
prove of the conduct of Isaac Hill, in mis-stating, in 
publications in his paper, the observations and impeach- 
ing the motives of members of this house, while in 
the discharge of their official duties." 

The introduction of this resolution was the 
signal for a full attack ; galled at the defeat of 
all their darling projects, there was now offered 
a glorious opportunity to revenge themselves up- 
on the man v/hom they rightly supposed to be a 
chief instrument in their defeat, and whom they 
knew had it not in his power to rise and refute 
their slanders. Lawyer after lawyer and orator 
after orator poured out their indignation in tones 
expressive of their abhorrence, and depicted in 
glowing colors, the extent of the insults which 
they had received from this abandoned miscreant. 
It might have been supposed that the hall of leg- 
islation had been suddenly transformed into a 
nursery of billingsgate. It was in vain urged 
upon their consideration by the friends of Mr. 
Hill, that other papers had taken much greater 



48 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

liberties witli their dignity than had Mr. Hill pre- 
sumed to do, and that one in particular, the op- 
position Gazette, published in the place had been 
guilty of much more flagrant violations of deco- 
rum, in speaking of all three branches of the 
government. It was all to no purpose ; ' the ven- 
erable member from Jaffrey had been grossly 
abused !' A motion was then made to substitute 
for the resolution, a general censure upon the 
license of the press. This also was negatived ; 
it was only this particular case that was held in 
view. The resolution was then committed. 

It was the wish and intention of the few indi- 
viduals engaged in getting up this extraordinary 
impeachment, to hurry it through the house with- 
out delay. The longer time was allowed to the 
members to reflect on the absurdity of the extra- 
judicial act, in which they were called upon to 
participate, the stronger might well be their ap- 
prehensions of the safety of their resolution. — 
Mr. Hill, hearing of the affair, and perceiving 
how easily he could render its prime movers 
ashamed of such an undignified prosecution by 
obliging them to specify and go on with their 
charges, on the following morning, sent in a me- 
morial disavowing all such dishonorable intentions 
as had been imputed to him and praying that, as 
the Bill of Rights guarantees the liberty of the 
press and, to every citizen, the right of defence 
against all charges brought against him, the ac- 
cusations against him should be clearly set forth, 
and he be admitted on the floor of the house, to 
answer and refute them. This petition wae re- 
ferred to the same committee, who granted leave. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 49 

A committee was then appointed to specify the 
charges and point out the obnoxious passages, 
which it had been moved to condemn, unread ; 
Col. P. of Jaffrey was the chairman. The result 
of the long protracted heavings of this mountain, 
as made known by The report of this committee, 
of which a large majority Iiad been in favor of 
the resolution, was truly trivial. Nothing was 
heard in it, of the mutilation of the observations 
of the honorable members, which had been so 
bitterly complained of in the original resolution, 
nor of the ' outrageous insult offered to the dig- 
nity of the venerable member from Jaffrey.' All 
this, the fruitful source of the declamation of the 
preceding day, had evaporated ; and a single par- 
agraph in the New-Hampshire Patriot was intro- 
duced to the attention of the house, in which the 
editor, in vindicating the executive from the at- 
tacks of a comtnittee of the house, had indulged 
in some severe remarks on the conduct and re- 
port of said committee. 

Such an acknowledgment of the folly, the puer- 
ility of the whole proceeding, as was made by such 
a report, astonished all not in the secret, both in 
and out of the house. The accused, however, 
appeared upon the floor with his counsel, and 
proceeded, with as much gravity as any state 
criminal, to refute the heinous charges contained 
in the report of the committee. His defence 
was, that the offence was not cognizable by the 
house ; that it was merely an expression of indi- 
vidual opinion ; that the article alleged by the 
committee to be an insult to the house, was in fact 
a defence of one branch of the government ; that 
5 



50 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

few editors had been so sparing in their animad- 
veisions ; and that the specification made by the 
committee was novel and unexpected ; — that be- 
fore, the whole burden of the song was the insult 
offered to tlie venerable member from Jaffrey, and 
that he had iience come prepared to prove that no 
injustice had been com.mitted against that member, 
and that his speech as reported was in fact better 
than the speech as spoken. Counsel was heard 
on these points, and uutnesses examined, till the 
federalists became heartily disgusted with a scene 
which redounded so little to their own honor. — 
The following resolution was then offered : 

' In House of Representatives, Dec. 26, 1816 ; Re- 
solved, that the House of Representatives consider the 
accusation preferred to the house against Isaac Hill, 
editor of the N. H. Patriot, is not an offence cognizable 
by the legislature, and that the house of representatives 
deem It improper to express their disapprobation of said 
editor, individually, inasmuch as the editors of other 
newspapers have published equally as severe strictures- 
and censure on the conduct and proceedings of the dif- 
ferent branches of government.' 

This resolution, after a protracted debate, pre- 
vailed by a vote of eighty-seven to eighty-three. 
A gentleman in the minority, who had made him- 
self peculiarly prominent in his denunciations of 
the accused editor, then arose and, 'in considera- 
tion of his regard for the character of Mr. Hill,' 
moved that the entire proceedings should be ex- 
punged from the Journal. To this, Mr. Hill's 
friends demurred ; they were perfectly willing to 
suffer the records to bear witpess to the acts of 
legislative wisdom in which, through the exertion* 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 51 

of disappointed malice, two entire days had been 
passed ; and it was accordingly determined that 
the whole proceedings, Mr. Hill's memorial and 
all, should remain on the Journals, a monument of 
federal ingenuity and talent. Those who had 
been concerned in this attempt to pass censorship 
upon a free press, had certainly no cause to con- 
gratulate themselves upon the farcical proceeding. 

We have detailed it somewhat at length, for 
the amusemont of our readers. The attempt 
thus to bring odium upon a simple printer, was 
generally reprobated and ridiculed. 

In 3817 and 1818, the republicans, although 
opposed by a regular array of candidates, were 
uniformly in the majority. Gov. Plumer had be- 
come very popular with his fellow-citizens, and 
no small regret was felt at his determination to 
retire from public life. He declined a re-nom- 
ination to the office of Governor in 1818. It, 
of course, became necessary to fix upon some 
other candidate. Samuel Bell, who had for ma- 
ny years, acted with the republicans, and who 
had not then apostatized from the democratic par- 
ty, was favorably known as a correct legislator 
and upright judge. He was therefore selected 
as the rallying point of the party, was zealously 
supported by Mr. Hill, and was chosen by a large 
majority, in the spring of 1819. 

Mr. Hill had, in January of this year, formed 
a connection in business with Mr. J. B. Moore, 
his brother-in-law, who also co-operated with 
him in the editorial conduct of the paper. 

At the session of the legislature in June, Mr. 
Hill was gratified by a public testimonial of the 



52 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

sense in which his republican friends viewed his 
continued exertions. He was elected to the res- 
ponsible office of Clerk of the Senate, and served 
that body as such, throughout the session. 

Gov. Bell, in liis annual message, urged par- 
ticularly upon the attention of the legislature, the 
passage of the Toleration law ; a subject which 
had been before agitated, but which had been 
suffered to remain for a considerable period un- 
touched. His views were ably seconded by the 
exertions of the late Hon. Thomas Whipple, who 
framed the law under which every religious sect 
now enjoys an equal opportunity of sustaining it- 
self against foreign encroachment. To us,who have 
so long experienced the beneficial effects of this 
law upon all denominations, and which few would, 
now, however rigid their doctrines of exclusive 
prerogative, wish abolished, it is almost incredi- 
ble that men of sense and information should have 
anticipated from its passage the most mournful 
results. It was declared that the enactment of 
the bill proposed, would give a death blow to all 
vital religion, morality and good order ; and an- 
athemas were hurled against it from the pulpit, 
as though it were equivalent to an order to burn 
all the bibles and destroy all the churches in the 
State. Mr. Hill did great service by the zeal 
with which he supported the proposed measure ; 
and this generation may congratulate themselves 
that, although the opposition seemed almost invin- 
cible, talent, eloquence and perseverance finally 
gained the victory over timidity, bigotry and su- 
perstition. 

In 1820, at the republican convention in sena- 



BIOGRAPHY 01' ISAAC HILL. 53 

torial district No. 4., Mr. Hill was nominated for 
the office of senator in the State legislature, and 
a resolution was passed to give him the united 
support of the democracy of the district. Mr. 
Hill now found himself placed in the delicate 
situation of a candidate for an elective office, op- 
posed with the whole strength of his political 
enemies, and at the same tinrie, being the only 
republican editor in the district. There was 
danger lest he should violate the rules of proprie- 
ty on the one hand by opening his columns to the 
admission of gross flattery or unjustifiable abuse, 
and on the other hand, that by an affectation of 
sensitiveness, he should place himself in a situa- 
tion where he would be exposed without defence 
to the attacks of opposing editors. His conduct 
in this dilemma was an instance of his prudence 
and the soundness of his judgment. By avoiding 
both extremes, he exhibited the character of a 
man conscious of rectitude of intention, and in- 
different to the attacks of malice or meanness. — 
The opposition had been thoroughly drilled, but 
his friends were firm, and he was elected by a 
large majority. In the fall of this year, republi- 
can electors and members of congress were cho- 
sen by the people of the State. Indeed, the fed- 
eral party made little display of opposition, except 
in a few local elections. In the fall session, the 
second of his legislative experience, Mr. Hill in- 
troduced a resolution to instruct our members in 
congress to support a reduction of their salaries 
to a per diem allowance of six dollars. He also 
made speeches in favor of remodelling the judi- 
ciary, and introduced and supported a bill, creat- 
5* 



54 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

ing a new county with limits similar to those of 
the present county of Merrimack. This last bill 
was postponed. 

In 1821, the freemen of the State were called 
upon to give, at their primary elections, an ex- 
pression of their opinion upon the questionof 
the amendment of the Constitution. Mr. Hill, at 
the same time that he professed the greatest ad- 
miration for that venerable instrument, was not 
inclined to believe that it was entirely free from 
blemishes, or that mankind, in the lapse of half a 
century, had not improved in political science. — 
He wanted to provide for a better balanced leg- 
islature ; wished the house to be limited to one 
hundred members, and the senate to be raised to 
twenty-four ; and also that all those expressions 
should be expunged which disagreed with the ex- 
press declaration of the Bill of Rights, and which 
incapacitated a citizen from holding certain offi- 
ces of honor and trust, unless he were a profes- 
sor of the Protestant faith. The people were 
however opposed to any tampering withthe legacy 
which their fathers had left them. 

Mr. Hill's conduct in the preceding legislature, 
the measures which he had recommended and 
faithfully supported, were very gratifying to his 
constituents, and they this year re-elected him to 
the senate, by a vote nearly unanimous. He took 
a prominent part in the acts and debates of 
that body. He introduced and successfully sup- 
ported a resolution to appropriate one thousand 
dollars for the support of indigent deaf-and-dumb 
youth at the asylum at Hartford. Since that time, 
the legislature have granted a yearly sum for the 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 55 

education of this unfortunate class of citizens. 
It is to be hoped that they will not confine their 
benevolence to the afflicted in body merely ; — to 
those deprived of any of the external . senses 
alone ; but that those who are ruined in mind and 
destroyed in intellect,shall be rescued by the hand 
of public charity, from the condition and treatment 
of the vilest criminals, and placed in a situation 
where they may be either restored to their reason, 
their friends and the world, or may be made hap- 
py, contented and useful, during the short period 
which they are doomed to pass in so melancholy 
a state of deprivation. 

In 1S22, Mr. Hill was again elected to the 
senate by the nearly unanimous vote of the dis- 
trict. In that station, he, as usual, exerted him- 
self in promotion of the measures which he 
had long advocated through the columns of his 
paper. He supported the reduction of the pay 
of members of congress ; and was seconded in 
his views by several of the Representatives of 
New-Hampshire in the National Leg-islature. — 
But self-interest was too strong for the patriotism 
of some of their colleagues, and one honorable 
member, who conceived himself personally allud- 
ed to by Mr. Hill in some remarks on the subject, 
attempted to procure an indictment against him 
for a libel, but failed. The ancient Egyptians 
worshipped the cat and the crocodile, and held it 
sacrilege to slay one of those holy beasts ; but as 
otherwise their country would have been overrun 
and eaten up by their hungry gods, their self-inter- 
est proved so far superior to their superstition and 
reverence, that they held it no sin at all to des- 



bb BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC KILL, 

troy these animals before they had arrived at 
years of maturity ; and the sacred spawn and 
little sucking gods were killed without compunc- 
tion. Thus it ever is. Man will rarely be found 
so patriotic and so republican as voluntarily to 
oppose his own interest or lessen his own power. 
Mr. Hill's exertions, as the people of this county 
will long remember, were unremitted, to obtain 
a partition of the old county of Rockingham. It 
had become a very serious inconvenience for the 
people of the western part of the county, to trav- 
el to the sea coast to procure the adjustment of 
their business in the courts of law. As in every 
question where sectional prejudices are brought 
into collision, great excitement prevailed on the 
subject, and a violent opposition, consisting, of 
course, of the residents in the eastern section of 
the county, was arrayed against the proposed 
measure. They finally procured its indefinite 
postponement, on the condition, that the courts 
should sit, at specified times, at Concord. 

A ticket was this year to be made up for members 
of Congress. Several of the nominating caucuses 
were believed by Mr. Hill to have been unfairly 
managed, and without hesitation, he opposed their 
nominations. In taking this step, which brought 
him into the unfortunate situation of a collision 
with a part of his republican friends, he acted on 
the principle which had always governed his con- 
duct, to support only what he believed to be the 
fairly-expressed wish of the people. The candidate 
who was particularly obnoxious to him, was de- 
feated, and harmony was in a great measure res- 
tored, where serious difficulties had threatened. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 57 

But soon another storm arose which seemed to 
angur ill for the unanimity of the republicans ; 
and which appeared to indicate the existence of 
discordant elements, which nothing could unite. 
Gov. Bell had been elected by the legislature to 
fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States. 
As had been the invariable practice with the re- 
publican party, a legislative convention was held 
to decide upon a suitable individual to be pre- 
sented to the people for the succession. The late 
Gen. Dinsraoor of Keene received a majority of 
of the suffrages, and was accordingly announced 
as the democratic candidate. Certain individu- 
als, influenced by sectional prejudices, were dis- 
satisfied at this result, and objected to Gen. D., 
because, as they urged, he did not live in the 
eastern part of the State ! With this band of 
disaffected republicans, a majority of the federal 
party, who had for several years made not a 
shadow of opposition, but who now saw too good 
an opportunity to throw discord into the ranks of 
their opponents, to be lost, immediately united. — 
They put in nomination Levi Woodbury. Mr. 
Woodbury was a young man, held a seat on the 
bench, had acted uniformly Vv'ith the republican 
party, Avas esteemed, as he has since proved him- 
self, to possess great talents and still greater per- 
severance, and on this account, became the means, 
as many of his supporters had craftily intended, 
of drawing a large part of the republican party 
from the support of their regular candidate. 

Mr. Hill felt it his duty to oppose these move- 
ments with all his strength. He saw the mo- 
tives of the leaders of this new party, and he 



58 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

feared the results which might spring from their 
exertions. He knew, for he had experienced, 
the disastrous effects of federal supremacy, and 
dreaded its return. Besides, he could see no reason 
for abandoning a nomination which had been fair- 
ly and regularly made according to republican 
usages. *' Legislative caucuses," he says,"should 
be considered as no further binding than as they 
express the popular sentiment ; whenever they 
are notoriously against the feelings of the people, 
the people will reject them." These few words 
give the true definition of the powers of the leg- 
islative caucus, and of the extent to which its 
nominations should be supported. Respecting 
this particular case, Mr. Hill believed the wishes 
of the democratic party to have been fairly ex- 
pressed in the nomination of Gen, Dinsmoor, and 
warned his republican friends of the dangerous 
tendency of a departure from democratic usages, 
and a union with former opponents whose enmity 
was only smothered, not extinguished — who were 
only waiting for a favorable opportunity to bring 
about their former ascendancy. But the efforts 
of the new amalgamation, aided by a temporary 
feeling upon the subject of the Judiciary, secured 
the election of Mr. Woodbury in the spring of 
1823. Mr. Hill was, at this early period, charged 
with ' dictating,'' and received from the federal 
prints the title of ^state's director.' 

In Jan. 1823, Mr. Hill's name again appears 
alone upon the New-Hampshire Patriot, his con- 
nection with his brother-in-law having been dis- 
solved. About the same time, a new paper was 
established at Concord, by the opposition, which 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 59 

still exists under the name of the Statesman and 
Journal. Frequent collision, or rather incessant 
contention, between this paper and the Patriot, 
have been the consequence. At this period, it 
will be remembered, the trial for the Presidency- 
commenced. Mr. Monroe's administration was 
drawing- to a close, and a new division of parties 
seemed likely to be made on the subject of his 
successor. Many of the republicans were in 
favor of Mr. Adams, while perhaps a consider- 
able majority could place no confidence in his 
consistency or his political integrity. Mr. Hill 
considered him as possessing- talents of the high- 
est order, but did not anticipate from his past his- 
tory, which consisted only of a series of tergi- 
versations, that he would be acceptable to any 
party. He was strongly in favor of a national 
convention, believing it to be the only mode, — in a 
country where the blessings of education are so 
widely diffused and where there are so many in- 
dividuals, equally worthy with the man who final- 
ly obtains the office, — of securing that unanimity 
of sentiment and action, without which, not only 
the men we prefer, but the principles we are con- 
tending for, must be inevitably lost. Opposed to 
a premature discussion of this agitating question ; 
a question which he knew, if too early brought 
before the public, would unnecessarily convulse 
the community ; for a considerable period, he de- 
layed taking any active part in the warfare be- 
tween the partizans of different candidates ; but 
gave, in the columns of the Patriot, an impartial 
summary of the relative merits of each of the five 



GO BIOGRArHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

individuals, who were most prominent as candi- 
dates, without expressing a preference for either. 

In the winter of 1822 — 3, Mr. Hill spent some 
time at the seat of government. He there saw 
and became acquainted with many eminent men, 
and made himself conversant with the general 
feeling on political subjects, and the peculiar 
prejudices, induced by sectional attachment. — 
When he finally thought the time had arrived for 
taking an active part in the presidential cam- 
paign, and when he declared himself in favor of 
Mr. Crawford as the regular democratic candi- 
date, the discovery was soon made that there was 
some connection between this step and the visit 
to Washington of the previous winter. Still 
more, it was not long before the particulars of the 
bargain were circumstantially detailed with the 
accuracy of an eye-witness. Mr. Hill, it was 
said, had been introduced to Mr. Crawford by 
Gen. King of Maine, and had, on that occasion, 
given in his oath of fealty and allegiance. These 
charges were reiterated in different shapes, till 
Mr. Hill thought it his duty to notice them. He 
gave the whole story his unqualified denial and 
exposed its absurdity by showing that Gen. King 
was not at Washington during the period of 
his visit. 

" I am willing," said he, " to live and die with- 
out asking of the people or the servants of the 
people, any thing but my good name. To the 
people of New-Hampshire, I am indebted for a 
patronage in business, which I believe they never 
awarded to any other individual who printed a 
newspaper. And so long as I pursue the course 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 61 

which conscience dictates to be the right course, 
so long will the people continue that patronage. 
I am determined to be the passive tool of no 
man." 

The year 1824 is somewhat memorable in the 
political history of New-Hampshire. The fed- 
eralists who had supported Mr. Woodbury for 
Governor, at the preceding election, displeased 
with the independent course which he took in 
that ofRce^ and finding that with all their exer- 
tions, they could not make him subservient to 
their views, mostly withdrew from the contest. — 
Gen. Dinsmoor having declined a renomination, 
David L. Morril was recognized as the candi- 
date of the republican party and was, this spring, 
elected. In the legislature, there was also a re- 
publican majority. But the members of that ma- 
jority were not united among themselves, or true 
to their principles. A legislative caucus was 
convened, at which federalists and their oppo- 
nents united in giving the weight of their names 
against the regular democratic candidate for the 
Presidency. The great object of the opposition 
was, (as it is at this time) to bring the election 
of the Chief Magistrate into Congress. They 
were willing to take any step, to make themselves 
subservient to any local party, which might for a 
moment bubble at the top of the political cauldron, 
to effect this, their great end. They did not 
hesitate to unite with their bitterest enemies, if 
by so doing, they could gain their assistance, in 
their turn. The result of these exertions on 
their part was manifested in the nomination of 
Mr. Adams to the Presidency, by this legislature. 
6 



62 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

The officers of the convention were all republi- 
cans ; yet the federalists did not hesitate to join 
thejn in the nomination. 

Mr. Hill opposed this coalition, this secret 
management, this undertow that was sapping and 
mining the very foundations on which the princi- 
ples of the party were based. He declared him- 
self absolutely opposed to all sectional nomina- 
tions, where a national convention had been or 
might be resorted to. He wished no geographi- 
cal candidate ; he believed some concentration 
necessary, or all choice would inevitably be ta- 
ken from the people. 

At the celebration, this year, of the anniversa- 
ry of our national independence, Mr. Hill was 
selected to read the Declaration of Independence. 
He performed the duty allotted him, made some 
appropriate remarks, and gave as a sentiment, a 
compliment to his and the democratic candidate, 
Mr. Crawford. 

The fall session was a stormy one ; it perhaps 
approached in violence the fall session of 18l2. 
The legislature was split up into little factions, 
and there appeared indications of danger, lest 
all principle should be lost sight of, in the scram- 
ble of petty partizans. As is ever the case, when 
the republicans suffer themselves to become dis- 
united, their opponents ruled things at their pleas- 
ure, and by appealing to their separate prejudi- 
ces, made them passive instruments of their will. 
A senator in congress was to have been chosen 
at this session, and trial after trial was made to 
effect an election. Several individuals were cho- 
sen as far as one branch could elect, but without 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 63 

the concurrence of the other. The house of 
representatives on their part, although decidedly 
republican, even chose on one occasion a feder- 
alist to represent them, at this critical juncture of 
public affairs, in the National Senate ! This, with 
the fact that republican electors gave the vote 
of the State for John Q. Adams, certainly indi- 
cated such an ' era of good feelings,' as the fed- 
eral party might well wish lasting. The legis- 
lature finally separated without making any choice 
of senator. M. Hill expressed his dissatisfaction 
in decided terms, at the worse than useless man- 
ner in which this session had been passed. The 
halls of legislation seemed to have become an a- 
rena for the strifes of petty demagogues. 

In 1825, this factious spirit was somewhat al- 
layed. The Presidential contest had been deci- 
ded, as far as the votes of the people's electors 
could effect a decision. In this State, the re- 
publicans were in the majority, and Gov. Morril 
was re-elected by a vote of singular unanimity. 
At the session of the legislature in June, Mr. 
Hill was once more elected clerk of the senate, 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation 
of Richard Bartlett, Esq. who had been, during 
the first week of the session, chosen Secretary 
of State. A meeting of the friends of internal 
improvements, who believed from actual surveys, 
that it was practicable to unite by a canal, the 
waters of the Merrimack and the Connecticut, 
the Merrimack and Winnipisiogee, and the Win- 
nipisiogee and the Piscataqua, was held at Con- 
cord during the session of the legislature. Mr. 
Hill was a member of a committee chosen to 



64 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

memorialize the legislature for assistance in mak- 
ing a scientific survey. In the course of the 
year, by the exertions of Mr. H. and his coadju- 
tors, the canal route was surveyed, and calcula- 
tions made of its probable cost. 

It was the remarks of Mr. Hill in relation to 
the town election of this year, and the manner in 
which it had been conducted, that drew forth a 
communication from the selectmen of the town, 
charging him with being a calumniator, and a 
liar. It may surprise those who have long im- 
agined this charge to have been made by a vote 
of the town, or even, as it has been said, record- 
ed upon the town books, — to learn that it was 
merely an expression of the personal opinions of 
those who made it ; and that Mr. Hill, the next 
year, determined to try the feelings of the town 
upon the subject. For this purpose, he suff*ered 
himself to be run for representative, knowing 
that the same board of selectmen who had ac- 
cused him of misrepresentation, would be again 
supported, and wishing the result of the vote to 
declare the degree of credibility attached to each 
party by the citizens generally.. A man so ob- 
noxious to the leaders of the opposition, was of 
course opposed, v/ith the greatest virulence. The 
result was the election of the editor of the Pat- 
riot by a large majority, and such a woful falling 
off in the supporters of the old selectmen, as to 
give them only nine votes each ! Mr. Hill felt a 
deep interest in the result of this election ; we 
subjoin his remarks concerning it : 

" The board of Selectmen above alluded to 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. Co 

was the same as that nominated the present year. 
These men, we have good reason to believe, were 
this year nominated to be supported with the es- 
pecial view of fortifying the declaration contain- 
ed in their publication. The result of the votes 
shows how well the declaration was sustained. — 
The federal party and the individuals composing 
the old board of selectmen deliberately made 
choice of this mode of deciding the controversy 
— they staked their reputation on this game ; and 
the result has proved that they are left in a con- 
dition somewhat worse than in the nine holes. 

"The result of the election in this town last 
Tuesday, is peculiarly gratifying to the feelings 
of the editor of the Patriot. It was the first 
time he ever stood a candidate for any office in 
the gift of the town ; and he was induced to be a 
candidate for no other reason than to throw off 
the stigma which had been cast on him, that he 
had not the confidence of his neighbors and 
townsmen. The controversy was personal as 
well as political ; and the chance was against him 
— for while he might -calculate that all who were 
politically opposed would, as a matter of course, 
vote against him, it might also be supposed that 
personal or local considerations would lose the 
support of some of his own party. The result 
agreeably disappointed his most sanguine friends, 
as it overwhelmed those more sanguine men who 
had long triumphed in the fancied success of their 
misrepresentations. 

" There never has been an election in the 
town more severely contested than this ; and it 
was determined precisely on the old party dis- 
6* 



66 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

tinction of republicans and federalists ; only the 
latter so far changed their ground as to head their 
ticket " true republican," taking Mr. Morril and 
the republican candidates for state and county 
officers, with two veteran federalists, the giants 
of the party, who had often successfully run, as 
candidates for representatives ; while the former 
chose the more apposite appellation of " demo- 
crat" to head their ticket, with both Pierce and 
Morril as candidates for Governor, taking their 
most popular man, ivith another most odious to the 
opposite party, as candidates for representatives. 
The federalists were not discouraged by losing 
their moderator at the first run — the leaders be- 
sieged the poll and animated their followers by 
telling them that the first choice was effected by 
the votes of the federalists for the democratic 
candidate. More republicans coming in, and some 
few federalists leaving the sinking ship, a second 
trial increased the democratic majority from fifty 
to more than seventy. And on counting the 
votes for selectmen, given in at the third ballot- 
ing, it was found that the mainbody of federalism 
had deserted, leavingthe "old board of selectmen," 
two with only nine and the other with ten votes, 
to keep them in remembrance !" 

At this election. Gov. Morril was again re- 
elected, by a union of republican and federal 
votes. A large portion of the republican party 
had become dissatisfied with his course, and cast 
their votes for the old veteran, Pierce. 

During the session of the legislature, the most 
perfect unanimity and harmony prevailed among 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 67 

its members ; and in consequence, the people's 
interests were not neglected, and much impor- 
tant business was transacted. Mr. Hill took a 
prominent part in the acts and debates of the 
popular branch. He was appointed chairman of 
the committee on banks and as such, reported 
against granting any more bank charters, on the 
ground that they were not needed, and that the 
capital stock already granted, was not yet entire- 
ly taken up. As the creation of new banks is 
generally supported on local and personal motives, 
and as members are unwilling to oppose a new 
charter when called for, because they may them- 
selves need a similar favor in their turn, there is 
always danger that too many, rather than too few 
banks will be created for the convenience and 
good of the public. In the progress of one bank 
bill, Mr. Hill procured its recommitment with in- 
structions to provide that the corporation should 
not go into operation, until evidence had been 
given to the Secretary of State, that all the cap- 
ital stock had been paid in, in specie. Even then, 
he opposed the final passage, and spoke several 
limes against the further multiplication of such 
petty monopolies. He also made speeches against 
taxation on sheep ; against removing the courts 
from Concord to Hopkinton ; in favor of an appro- 
priation, jointly with the legislature of Vermont, 
to improve the navigation of the Connecticut ; in 
favor of an appropriation towards constructing a 
road through Franconia Notch, and another in 
favor of a survey for a canal route from the Mer- 
rimack to the Connecticut. All these measures 
were evidently for the public advantage ; and the 



6S BIOOCAPIlt OF ISAAC HILL. 

people thought none the worse of his exertions, 
because, as it was alleged, he was guilty of 
writing his speeches before he delivered them. 

The language and doctrine of Gov. Morril'a 
message not being acceptable to the republicans, 
the worthy old patriot. Gen. Pierce, was nomina- 
ted in his stead. He was elected in the spring 
of 1827, with trifling opposition. In July, 1826, 
Mr. Hill visited the flourishing region of the 
west — that section of the State of New- York 
which is so peculiarly interesting from the asso- 
ciations which are connected with it, in relation 
to both our wars for this country's independence. 
He visited and examined with care and attention 
all the interesting relics of those times of danger, 
and wrote home for the columns of his paper, in- 
teresting and spirited letters descriptive of the 
artificial and natural beauties of the country 
which he was visiting. From Bennington, Ti- 
conderoga, Saratoga, Lewiston, Niagara, Utica, 
Buffalo, &c. were written communications of great 
value, which, at the time of their publication, were 
extensively copied, and which richly merit pres- 
ervation in a more durable form. We do not re- 
member that federal cunning discovered any con- 
nection between this journey of Mr. Hill's and 
the political movements of the times. 

In the winter of 1826, the subject of Mr. Ad- 
ams' re-election began to be agitated in the pub- 
lic papers. Mr. Hill was decidedly opposed to 
most of the prominent measures of his adminis- 
tration. A friend of universal peace, he did not 
believe a mission to a Panama Congress consist- 
ent with the dignity of the country,>or the parting 



BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. 69 

advice of the sage of Mont-Vernon. Active as 
he had been in the promotion of every constitu- 
tional scheme of improving the internal resour- 
ces of our country, he did not consider it repub- 
lican, constitutional or politic, to convert the mo- 
ney of the whole nation to the aggrandisement or 
the improvement of particular sections. Hence, 
he early and actively engaged in the opposition to 
Mr. Adams. The same principles which he sup- 
ported in the columns of his paper, found a zeal- 
ous advocate in the national senate, in the person 
of Judge Woodbury, who was now more than 
ever obnosious to the administration party. 

But Mr. Hill was not long allowed to persevere 
in the bold and decided stand which he had taken, 
without experiencing the effects of the malice of 
those whom he opposed. The public printing 
v^hich he had long enjoyed was taken from him 
by Mr. Secretary Clay and given to the New- 
Hampshire Journal, a paper which had just been 
commenced, had only a limited circulation, and 
whose talented editor, the brother-in-law and for- 
mer partner of Mr. Hill, now became his most 
uncompromising opponent. The amount of this 
patronage, which was taken from him by such a 
summary act, was indeed but trifling, and in the 
prosperous state of Mr. Hill's affairs, had no effect 
upon the circulation of his paper, or his own wel- 
fare ; yet Mr. Hill could not but regard it as an 
attempt at proscription and as a manifestation of 
the treatment he had to expect from his political 
opponents, whenever it should be in their power 
to injure him. Me had the consolation, however, 
of the approhaAion of hia friends, in the courie 



70 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

which he had taken ; and knowing that he was 
beloved of the people, such petty attacks could 
only excite a smile of contempt. There is an 
Eastern saying, " If the moon be with thee, thou 
needest not care for the stars." Hence, he was 
above being affected by the exclusive, the perse- 
cuting policy which the administration party ev- 
er adopted, whenever for a moment, they had it 
in their power to exercise a little brief author- 
ity. 

In 1827, Mr. Hill once more received the re- 
publican nomination for senator in the State leg- 
islature from district No. Four. Unparallelled 
exertions were made to secure his defeat. Such 
an event was confidently anticipated by the oppo- 
sition — their measures had been laid with such 
skill and secresy, that they were certain of suc- 
cess. On the day before the election, a new can- 
didate, a man of talents and influence, was nom- 
inated in opposition to the editor of the Patriot, 
and runners sent throughout the district to dis- 
tribute the tickets and drill every man to his duty. 
Yet, was Mr. Hill chosen by a majority greater 
than any of his predecessors in office had ever 
received, when their election had been contested. 
A better evidence of his popularity with those 
who knew him best, could not have been given. 

The Presidential contest was fiercely waged 
this year, throughout New-England. Every man 
exerted all his influence with a devotedness that 
seemed to say that the existence of the country 
depended upon his individual exertions. The 
editor of the New-Hampshire Patriot was recog- 
nized as the leader of the oppositien or Jackson 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 71 

party in this section of the Union. His paper 
teemed with argument and sarcasm ; the produc- 
tions of his own pen and the contributions of 
friends supplied him with matter such as every 
republican was anxious to read. In proportion 
as the value of his exertions began to be appre- 
ciated by the friends of democracy generally, did 
the abuse with which he had always been unspar- 
ingly visited, increase in virulence. Not only 
was his public course arraigned before the bar of 
general condemnation, but his private character 
was traduced, and a selfish motive discovered in 
every, the most benevolent act of his life or ami- 
able trait in his character. It is never pleasant 
to have one's conduct judged by the green eye of 
jealousy or the gangrene of political or personal 
malice, and few men ever came forth from the 
fiery ordeal so pure as did Mr. Hill. The more 
he was abused, the more obstinately did the re- 
publicans resolve upon shewing him honor, and 
the only way to render him an object of indiffer- 
ence to the people of this State, will be to cease 
those unmerited, groundless attacks, which have 
redounded, in the end, to his own honor, and have 
put his accusers to the blush. Mr. Hill, while he 
did not suffer his whole time to be employed in 
answering and re-answering every stale slander 
that was adduced against him, adopted always 
the principle, conscious of his ability to do so, to 
refute with promptness every charge, which, 
from its nature or the source from which it orig- 
inated, might tend to injure his reputation or les- 
sen his credit. Although his friends might not 
believe the accusation, yet they might think hii 



73 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

silence an unfavorable indication. The Egyp- 
tians have a proberb, « Throw mud against the 
wall, and if do not stick, it will leave a mark.' 

The Secretary of State of New-Hampshire, 
adopting the petty, miserable policy of a higher 
dignitary, was this year pleased to withdraw the 
State printing from Mr. Hill and transfer it to the 
Journal. No reason was assigned, because per- 
haps too obvious ; but the worst feature of the 
business was the refusal of the Secretary to allow 
Mr. Hill an opportunity to publish the laws of the 
State for nothing, simultaneously with the favor- 
ed print. None of these things moved Mr. Hill. 
He addressed to the Secretary a temperate letter, 
to which he received no reply. 

When the charge of inconsistency was brought 
against him for denouncing the course of Mr. Bell 
in the Federal Senate, Mr. Hill replied by show- 
ing that it was Mr. Bell who had changed his 
opinions, and who supported measures which he 
had denounced when Governor of the State and 
a favorite of Mr. Hill. He proved these things 
from the messages of Gov. Bell. In them, His 
Excellency had declared national appropriations 
for internal improvements, a " construction of the 
constitution wholly unwarranted" — the Senator 
now considered the system constitutional aud pol- 
itic. So of the rest ; — and had Mr. Hill changed ? 
He could only say that he entertained the same 
opinions upon all the topics of national interest, 
then under discussion, as he had expressed in 
1819, when he agreed with Mr. Bell and gave 
him his hearty support. 

It W&3 likewise busily and maliciously reported 



BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 73 

that Mr. Hill was at times insane, and some even 
affected to pity him for the tinge of madness which 
characterised his writings. Mr. Hill once took 
occasion to notice this tale ; "There is," said he, 
"an Almighty Power who tempers the wind to 
the shorn lamb, who will preserve us from such a 
calamity, and who will not suffer our intellectual 
vision to be dimmed until our work shall be ac- 
complished. We have faith to persevere in a 
righteous cause, confident that cause will be pros- 
pered." 

IVIany of the old republicans in New-Hamp- 
shire had preferred Mr. Adams in 1824, to any 
of his rival candidates. Many of them still cleav- 
ed to his fortunes, while a large number once 
more returned to the democratic ranks ; disap- 
proving the favorite measures of the candidate 
they had helped to elect, and disgusted with the 
persecuting spirit of their new associates. Mr. 
Hill's views of the momentous questions involved 
in the decision of the Presidential question, . are 
well expressed in the following article from his 
pen : 

'' The editor of the Patriot commenced this paper 
nearly nineteen years ago during the dark and porten- 
tous period which preceded the late war with Great 
Britain. He commenced it, not with the expectation 
of the gain of filthy lucre, not with the expectation of 
getting to himself the honors or emoluments of office, 
but with the hope that he should render a feeble support 
to those Principles in which are involved the rights 
and liberties and best interest of the people* In his 
progress thus far, he has not always trod the smoothest 
and easiest road : with a single view to the cause in 
which he was engaged, he has frequently encountered 
rough and rugged paths, the thorns and thongs of aristoc- 
7 



74 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC IIlLL. 

racy on the one hand, and the cold and thankless indif- 
ference of men who thought there was nothing worth 
contending for in that cause, no great difference between 
the friends and the enemies of the country, on the other. 
He has not stopped to inquire which ^^•ouid be the pop- 
ular side Avhich course would meet with most favor of 
the largest number of great men ; but having ascer- 
tained what would best subserve the great and cardinal 
principles always kept in view, he has not feared to en- 
counter, in the support of the right side, the obloquy 
and the reproaches of men v/ho are always brave and 
valiant wliere there is no danger. 

The last and the present Presidential controversy has 
brought into action many of that valiant class of poli- 
ticians just hinted at — it has revived the old spirit of 
the federal party, awakened that party to new hopes, 
and kindled again that fire of persecution and prosci-ip- 
tion which was always the strong characteristic of that 
party. New-England feelings and New-England prej- 
udices are again appealed to, for no other purpose than 
to bring a second time the aristocratic party into power. 
We very early foresaw that this was the great object of 
many of the New-England men who first espoused the 
cause of Mr. Adams : v/e saw that they had this object 
in view when they first contended so strenuously a- 
gainst all agreement and concert among republicans in 
the choice of President : we saw it, as the election pro- 
gressed to that state which showed that the House of 
Representatives, pre-determining that the people should 
not elect, intended to give the final choice to a minority 
of their own body : we saw it in the first movements 
and appointments of an Executive^ thus elected, claim- 
ing t6 be the administration ; and we have seen it in ev- 
ery subsequent movement and measure of a Cabinet 
whose great business since its first organization, seems 
to have been that of forcing public opinion to the pledge 
that the Cabinet should be continued in power after its 
first term had expired. If we have taken ground in 
opposition to this Cabinet, it was not because Ave ex- 
pected our cause vv^oald be a popular one in New-Eng- 
land, it was not that we could entertain a hope that ours 
would not be a thorny and a disagreeable path ; but it 
was because we considered that there was a right side 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. IB 

^nd a wrong- side to this qaestion, and we were deter- 
mined to take what we deemed to be the right side, 
regardless of consequences, regardless of the frowns 
and the dispieasnre of men who commanded an immense 
patronage w^hich they could w^ield against us. 

Thus far, we have been happily disappointed in the 
effect and the results of this struggle in New-Hamp- 
shire. The great ma^ss of the democratic party are fast 
getting upon their old ground, from which they will 
not be driven. The violence of the administration and 
its agents is fast opening the eyes of the people. The 
more candid men of the federal party already admit 
that there may be a majority of this State opposed to 
the re-election of Mr. Adams ; and every attempt of 
the " Great New-England Adams party " to take this 
State into its keeping by force has resulted in utter dis- 
comfiture . In many sections of the State the people 
are already aroused by the violence and proscription 
which has been threatened. And, at present, we have 
no doubt that, by due vigilance and energy, the Demo- 
cratic Party will pass the fiery trial through which 
their old enemy is forcing them, unscathed and un- 
hurt." 

At the se.s3ion of the legislature in 1827, Mr. 
Hill was chairman of the committee of the Sen- 
ate on schools and seminaries of learning, and a 
member of the committee on banks. In his first 
capacity, he reported a bill for the establishment 
of the New-Hampshire University ; an institution 
to be supported by the avails of the Literary 
Fund, and to be under the control of the State. 
The measure was not adopted, but a different 
disposition of tl^e Literary Fund has been made. 
At the legislative caucus. Gov. Pierce was again 
nominated for the executive chair. 

In 1828, on the ever memorable eighth of Jan- 
uary, the republicans of New-Hampshire held a 
festival at Concord to commemorate the great 



76 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

victory, which must ever be associated with tlie 
return of that anniversary. A larger assmblage 
of rejoicing freemen has never been witnessed 
in the capital of the Granite State, save on one 
or two similar occasions. Mr. Hill was selected 
to deliver the Address to this great auditory. — 
The duty was ably performed. The orator com- 
menced by alluding to the great principles for 
which the war of the revolution was declared ; 
he showed how those principles were established ; 
he showed how prosperous our country had be- 
come, prior to the late war with Great Britain. — 
He briefly alluded to the causes of that war, and 
then entered upon an historical sketch of the 
great chain of events whose final consummation 
in the victory of New-Orleans, his auditors were 
then called together to celebrate. He gave a 
brief history of the prominent events of the life 
of vicissitudes which Gen. Jackson had endured, 
and from his services and the principles he had 
contended for, he passed to a summary of the 
life of Mr. Adams ; his numerous treasons com- 
mitted against every party ; the principles in 
which he had been nurtured, and the measures, 
which, in his Executive capacity, he had advocat- 
ed. The address was plain and practical ; such 
an one as was calculated to instruct, to please, 
and to make a lasting impression. The conclusion 
is elsewhere given.^ 

Mr. Hill was re-nominated to the senate. A- 
gain, was every nerve strained against him. His 
own paper, the only republican paper in the dis- 



See Appendix D. 



filOGRA'PHY OF ISAAC HILL. 77 

trict, the opposition, inflamed by numerous defeats 
and having at their command two presses, whence 
were thrown off every species of abuse, which 
partizan malignity or personal hatred could dic- 
tate, were successful, not only in this senatorial 
district, but throughout the State. This result, 
many causes combined to produce. As in 1814, 
the continual cries, together with the underhand 
machinery of a united and talented opposition, 
produced a temporary reaction in the public mind. 
There seemed to exist a feeling that violence 
would be committed against the rights of the 
Presidential incumbent, were he permitted to 
serve but one constitutional term. The letter of 
an honorable senator in congress, who knowingly 
and deliberately committed the falsehood of wri- 
ting home from the seat of government to the 
political gamblers of the State he represented, 
that the venerable ex-presidents, Madison and 
Monroe had consented to stand as electors in op- 
position to Gen Jackson, exerted its full effect in 
defeating the real favorite of the people and pla- 
cing a brother of the letter-writer in the guber- 
natorial chair. 

To secure the defeat of Mr. Hill, an object ap- 
parently of greater moment to the federal party 
than the victory of their candidate for the chief 
magistracy, the greatest exertions were used, and 
every measure, however unprincipled, unhesita- 
tingly adopted. Garbled extracts, such as every 
file-thumber can collect, were made from ancient 
numbers of the Patriot, showing what were called 
his deliberate opinions of Mr. Bell, Mr. Adams 
and others, by republishing the occasional senten- 



r. 



78 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

ces in which Mr. H. had formerly alluded to those 
gentlemen, when they acted with the republican 
party, and when they co-operated with him in 
opposition to federal misrule, and the toryism of 
1814. These extracts were carefully collated, 
used as texts for bitter comments, published in 
pamphlet form, and made to travel, under the ti- 
tle of *' Wise Sayings of Hon. Isaac Hill," into 
every hamlet of the country, as damning proofs 
of inconsistency and insincerity.''^ By such 
means as these, did Mr. Hill lose his election ; 
the first time that he ever experienced defeat for 
any elective office, for which he was a candi- 
date. 

Throughout the year 1828, as every one re- 
members, the whole country was convulsed by 
the political contest that was then waged. Nei- 
ther time, labor or money was spared by either 
party. Newspapers sprang into existence like 
the magic creations of the lamp of Aladdin, and 
old establishments poured forth their redundant 
matter in teeming extras. In New-Hampshire, 
the struggle was peculiarly violent. Fresh as 
must be the particulars of this contest, in the 
minds of our citizens, it is not our purpose to en- 
large upon them. Suffice it to say, that Mr. Hill's 
paper was almost entirely filled with topics of na- 
tional interest ; that whilst he maintained abroad, 
a high character for talents and perseverance, he 
was obliged to contend with a bitter, uncompro- 
mising foe at home. Coffin-handbills, monumen- 
tal inscriptions, and other hideous, ghastly shapes, 

* See Appendix E. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 79 

apparently just fresh from the Golgotha of dry- 
bones, were thrown into every farmers's house in 
the land, to prejudice the honest puritan a- 
gainst the coldblooded murderer of poor John 
Woods and his five innocent fellow-soldiers, the 
heartless traitor and fellow-conspirator with Burr, 
or the parricide who could wantonly imbue his 
hands in the blood of his own kinsmen. Such 
was the opposition that Mr. Hill had to contend 
with ; such the unprincipled measures which he 
was called upon to expose. 

^ In June, a grand republican State Convention 
was held at Concord to take measures relative to 
the ensuing Presidential election. Primary meet- 
ings of the people in every part of the State were 
here represented, and an interchange of views 
and opinions effected, highly conducive to unan- 
imity of action. Candidates for Governor, Elec- 
tors and Members of Congress were fixed upon. 
Isaac Hill was a delegate from Concord. He was 
chosen chairman of a committee of correspond- 
ence, and also chairman of a committee to pre- 
pare an address to the people. In that capacity, 
he reported a lengthy and interesting document, 
in which he reviewed with a masterly hand, the 
acts and measures of the administration, and the 
character of its supporters. We could not do it 
justice by any extracts we could make. 

Every branch of the government was anti-dem- 
ocratic, and an entire revolution was effected in 
the public officers. A senator in congress was 
chosen by this legislature. Mr. Hill received the 
republican suffrages, but Mr. Bell was elected by 
a vote of 133 to 82 ; a result agreeing with the 



80 BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL, 

situation of parties in the legislature. It was 
on this occasion, that Mr. Bell gave, in a public 
speech, his solemn engagement to resign his of- 
fice, whenever he should cease to represent a 
majority of his constituents. It is well known 
that this pledge was never redeemed, and that 
Mr. Bell clung to his place in the Senate, mis- 
representing the wishes and the opinions of the 
people of New-Hampshire, and disregarding 
their oft-repeated requests for him to vacate his 
seat, till the last moment of his constitutional 
term. 

On the fourth of July of this year, Mr. Hill de- 
livered an oration before the republicans of Ports- 
mouth. In the autumn, the fiat of the people 
decided the great question which had so long 
agitated the community. Their voice loudly 
proclaimed their determination that a weak and 
unprincipled administration was unworthy of their 
support. New-Hampshire gave her electoral 
vote for Adams, but the people of the Union de- 
clared for the patriot-soldier who had filled the 
measure of his country's glory. 

In January, 1829, a primary meeting of the 
republican electors of the senatorial district No. 
4, again nominated Mr. Hill and resolved to give 
him their united, hearty support. Mr. Hill declin- 
ed and another gentleman received the nomina- 
tion and was elected. Indeed, throughout the 
State, the people rose up, as if actuated by one 
common sentiment and threw off the shackles 
which had been imposed upon them. The men, 
whom, through deception and chicanery, they had 
been induced to support, after a twelve months' 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 81 

butterfly existence under the honors and emolu- 
ments of office, were permitted to retire to pri- 
vate life, and the revolutionary patriot Pierce was 
again called to the chief magistracy, with repub- 
lican associates in every branch of the govern- 
ment. Those who had the preceding year, been 
proscribed for their unyielding republicanism, 
were replaced in the stations which they had lost, 
not forfeited. ->-., 

Mr. Hill, this year, forwarded to Washington a 
petition of the people of Portsmouth, accompanied 
With a letter of his own, complaining of oppres- 
sion on the part of the Branch Bank of the Uni- 
ted States in Portsmouth, and praying for redress. 
Mr. Biddle justified the Bank, and entered into 
an argument to disprove the existence of fraud 
or oppression. This, we have been told by a 
distinguished statesman, was in reality, the com- 
mencement of the struggle between the demo- 
cratic party and the directors of the Bank — it did 
not originate in their refusal to lend Gen. Jack- 
son money without responsible endorsers, or in 
their declining to become the agents of govern- 
mental corruption — to this petition and the ac- 
companying letter, is alone to be attributed the 
downfall of the Bank. — -^ 

Mr. Hill passed the latter part of the winter 
and the spring at Washington. Gen. Jackson 
was desirous of bestowing upon him some office 
which might serve to indicate his feelings towards 
him, and to prove the reality of his opinions of 
the eminent services which Mr. Hill had ever 
been, even from the time of the Embargo, ren- 
dering to the cause of republicanism. He there 



82 mOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

fore, almost immediately after his inauguration, 
tendered to Mr. Hill the responsible office of Se- 
cond Comptroller of the Treasury Department. 
Mr. Hill accepted the appointment and entered 
upon the duties of his office* on the twenty-first 
of March. Retiring from the editorial chair of 
the New-Hampshire Patriot, which he had so ac- 
ceptably and ably filled for thirty years, during 
which time, he had invariably been found on the 
side of republicanism, that paper appeared with 
the names of Ploratio Hill & Co. as publishers. 

Mr. Hill commenced the reform which had been 
demanded by the people in tones whose meaning 
could not be misunderstood, by returning and or- 
dering the discontinuance of the great number of 
newspaper^ that it had been the custom of his 
predecessor to receive at the^ expense of the gov- 
ernment. This act brought upon him the personal 
hatred of those editors whose publications he had 



* The duties of the Second Comptroller are to ex- 
amine all accounts settled by the Secondj Third and 
Fourth Auditors, certify the balance to the Secretary 
of the Department, in which the expenditures have 
been incurred ; countersign all requisitions drawn by 
the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments, 
warranted by law ; report to the Secretaries the official 
forms to be used in the different offices for distributing 
the jjubhc money in those Departments, and the man- 
ner and form of keeping and stating the accovmts of 
the persons omjdoyed therein. It is also his duty to 
superintend the preservation of the public accounts 
sul)ject to his revision. 

The salary of the Second Comptroller is three thou- 
sand dollars per annum, and he has the appointment of 
eight clerks, whose salaries vary from ten to seveWiteen 
hundred dollars. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 83 

refused to receive, as well as the unsparing abuse 
of the whole kennel of disappointed political 
managers who had found themselves left far in 
the background by the result of the general elec- 
tion. Their aristocratic feelin^^s, too, were 
strongly excited by this appointment. They 
could not bear in patience, the idea, that a com- 
mon printer and a self-educated man should be 
elevated to a post of honor and emolunsent, where 
he could not but be a prominent object before the 
people of the country ; and as such, could not 
fail to impress the public with favorable opinions 
of himself, his motives and measures. The printer 
and editor Hill, and the schoolmaster and editor 
Kendall, both enterprising sons of dear Yankee 
iaiid,were especially eye-sores in the sight of this 
exclusive aristocracy. 

Throughout the year was Mr. Hill doomed to be- 
come the passive recipient and unyielding object 
of the vile slanders of a vile press. It seemed that 
the very gall of bitterness which had been accumu- 
lating against him ever since the commencement 
of his editorial career, by those whose mischiev- 
ous doctrines he had exposed and whose meas- 
ures he had contributed to defeat, was now to be 
poured out unsparingly upon his devoted head. — 
Mr. Hill, himself inactive, pursued quietly the 
even tenor of his way, turned not to the right 
hand or to the left to refute the base and self-an- 
swering charges alleged against him, and, by his 
steady, persevering attention to the business of 
his office, the capacity for business and the almost 
intuitive knowledge which he evinced of the 
routine of duties attached to his station, secured 



84 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC MiLt. 

to him the respect and admiration of all who had 
occasion to deal with him in his official character. 
He had friends, however, who, unwilling to see 
an amiable man, and a worthy public officer, tra- 
duced with impunity, zealously took up the gaunt- 
let in his behalf, and compelled his enemies, either 
to retract their accusations, or by silence, ac- 
knowledge their falsehood. 

Mr. Hill's private affairs requiring a short visit 
to the place of his former residence, he sought 
and obtained of the President leave of absence 
and visited Concord. His business, which had 
been for thirty years graduall}'' increasing and 
enlarging itself, he was now obliged to close. It 
was likewise his wish to obtain a permanent ed- 
itor for the Patriot ; a man who should in some 
measure, fill the place which he had formerly 
held in the affections of the people of New- 
Hampshire. His visit to Concord was made in 
June ; hence, the sagacious observers who were 
always so cunning as to suspect duplicity and 
management, where none existed save in their 
own hearts, conceived his object to be to dictate 
to the legislature and oblige them to conform 
themselves to his sovereign will. 

A State Convention was, as usualj held at Con- 
cord, during the session, for the nomination of 
candidates and other measures necessary to sus- 
tain the organization of the democratic party. — 
This large and respectable convention, collected 
from all parts of the State, took occasion, before 
their separation, to make a public expression of 
their sense of the important services which Mr. 
Hill had rendered to the republican cause. — 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, S5 

This was done in a manner so happy, so flatter- 
ing- and so appropriate, as coming from the rep- 
resentatives of a State, with whose politics he 
had long been identified, that we cannot refrain 
from inserting the proceedings at length. 



On motion, the Hon. John Chadwick, Horace Chase, 
Peter Sweatt^ Squire B. Hascall, Joseph Hammons, 
Samuel Tilton, Warren Lovell, John Quimby, Abner 
B. Kelly and Ebenezer Butler, Esquires, were ap- 
pointed a committee to wait on the Hon. Isaac Hill and 
in behalf of this Convention tender him their most 
cordial and decided approbation of the course he has 
uniformly pursued in support of the republican cause, 
and express also their regret that he is about to leave 
the State. 

Pursuant to said app6intment, the follow^ing commu- 
nication was addressed to him : 



ADDRESS. 

THE HONORABLE ISAAC HILL : 

Sir — The Democratic Republican members of the 
State Legislature assembled in convention, June 23, 
1829, appointed the undersigned a committee to convey 
to you their cordial and unqualified approbation of your 
political course — for the able and independent support 
you have for more than twenty years rendered to the 
cause of Democratic Republicanism in this State, and 
also for the indefatigable and never-tiring zeal mani- 
fested by you in defence of the rights and sovereignty 
of the people . And although their kind feelings towards 
you have been highly gratified by your appointment to 
a high and responsible office, recently conferred on you 
by the government of the United States, and notwith- 
standing they heartily rejoice that you are about to re- 
ceive the reward your talents, integrity and faithful 
services so justly merit; yet these feelings are not un- 
mingled with regret while reflecting on your necessary 
absence from the State, and while taking leave of a 
8 



86 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

citizen who has ever enjoyed the fullest confidence oi 

tlie Republican party. 

Be pleased, sir, to accept assurances of our unfeigned 

esteem and respect. 

JOHN CHAD WICK, 
HORACE CHASE, 
WARREN LOVELL, 
PETER SWEATT, 
SQUIRE B. HASCALL, 
JOSEPH HAMMONS, 
SAMUEL TILTON, 
JOHN QUIMBY. 
EBENEZER BUTLER, 
ABNER B. KELLY. 
Concord, June 24, 1829. 

To which he made the following reply : 

ANSWER. 

To the Hon. John Chadiinck, Horace Chase, Warren Lot)- 
ell, Peter Siceatt, Squire B. Hascall, Joseph HaimnonSy 
Samuel Til ton, John Qiumby, Ebcnezer Butler and 
Ahner B. Kelly, Esquires. 

Gentlemen : About to leave the State in the tempo- 
rary service to which I have been called by the President 
at the seatof the National Government, no circumstance 
can give me greater pleasure than to carry with me the 
kind feelings and the approbation of the republicans of 
New-Hampshire. 

In reviewing the past, what man of active life before 
the public, can look back without seeing sometliing in 
himself to regret .'' What man, incessantly engaged in 
the political controversies of the last twenty years, who 
may not have discovered at times perhaps an imprudent 
zeal, and at other times have mistaken the character and 
motives of men .'' With no claims to an exemption from 
the frailties incident to human nature, my higliest am- 
bition is gratified by the award of honest and upright 
intentions, bestowed by you, gentlemen, in behalf of the 
Representatives of the Democracy of the State of New- 
Hampshire in its Legislature. 

Through all political vicissitudes, from the first great 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 57 

division of federalist and republican inl798 down to the 
present time, parties in this State have remained the 
same ; individuals only have changed as some have 
passed off, while others have come upon the stage, and 
a few time servers and trimmers, generally for the sake 
of preferment, have changed from one side to the other. 
It is a fact worthy of remark, that nearly every town in 
this State which warmly supported the reign of the first 
Adams, supported the Administration of the second Ad- 
ams, and those which espoused the cause and the prin- 
ciples of Jefferson in 17'J8, supported the election of 
Andrew Jackson thirty years afterwards. So also the 
towns which have this year chosen democratic repre- 
sentatives and given our patriotic Governor majorities, 
are the same towns which gave our first democratic Gov- 
ernor majorities. 

The identity of character in the two parties may be 
traced all the way through our political history. The 
federal, or aristocratic party has been invariably intole- 
rant, supercilious, overbearing and exclusive. The re- 
publican, or democratic party has been generous even 
to a fault toward their political enemies. The conse- 
quence has been that the commencement of the present 
National and State administrations found most of the 
offices under both in the hands of the aristocracy. Al- 
though this aristocracy, after its discomfiture in 1816, 
had proclaimed an oblivion of parties, yet the victory 
obtained over the people by bargain and intrigue, in the 
Presidential election of 1824, and the consequent acces- 
sion of a corrupt administration to power, revived at 
once their old intolerance and bitterness. In this State 
every moveable man in any office who acted as a repub- 
lican was displaced. And now that the republicans, 
again reinstated in power by the people, protect them- 
selves by removing some of the most violent and intol- 
erant of their enemies from office, replacing their friends 
in their old positions, or appointing others who have 
encountered oppression in its worst form, the exclusive 
party who were never known to tolerate any political 
opponent, raise and reiterate the cry of persecution and 
proscription at every removal that takes place. It is 
worthy of observation, that at least two thirds of the of- 
fices of profit at the seat of the National Government, 



8» BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

after the removals thus far made, are still held by per- 
sons who were opposed to the election of Gen. Jackson, 
and the same may be said of the officers under our own 
State government. 

If ever there was a time when a republican adminis- 
tration could be justified in removing its enemies from 
office, that time is the present. So far as the people 
could express an opinion on this subject, that opinion 
has been decisively in favor of such removals. Our 
political enemies, anticipating that they deserved it, put 
the late elections on this ground : — they chose to run 
the risque of either engrossing the whole power to 
themselves or of losing it, rather than that we should 
have any favor — they chose an exclusive course ; and 
if we do not now take them at their word, we shall show 
that we are willing to place weapons in their hands with 
which they may destroy us — we shall show that we de- 
serve all their reproaches, and that we deserve no com- 
miseration if the serpent warmed in our own bosom 
stings us to death. 

The aristocratic party, in conducting the late elec- 
tions, have also provoked retaliation by the most prof- 
ligate and abandoned course of electioneering : the most 
unheard-of calumny and abuse was heaped on the can- 
didate of the people, sanctioned by men high in author- 
ity — he was called by every epithet which could desig- 
nate crime, and the amiable partner of his bosom was 
dragged before the people as worse than a convicted fe- 
lon. What sympathy do men of such a party deserve — 
what sympathy can they receive, when complaining 
that the places which they have abused are given to 
others '? 

The political conflicts of the last twenty years in this 
State have been a contention for absolute and exclusive 
control by the federalists, and for equality of rights 
and toleration by tlie republicans. The former have 
shewn no mercy, and have treated their opponents as 
usurpers in office ; the latter have always given their 
opponents more than their proportion of offices accord- 
ing to numbers. The war has been unequal — it has 
been offensive on one side, and defensive on the other. 
And so habitual has become the kind treatment of re- 
publicans towards the federalists, that after the latter 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 89 

liave waged a Puiiic war and been beaten and prostrated, 
they have at length the hardihood to come in at once 
and claim anew that equal distribution which they have 
been wont to receive, and to arm themselves again with 
the same offensive weapons which have been repeatedly 
wrested from them. This course, although it may do 
great credit to the humanity of republicans, is, to say 
the least, of doubtful policy : it may be laudable and 
magnanimous, once or twice to try such an experiment ; 
but when each experiment has repeatedly failed, to the 
disadvantage of the majority, it is surely bad policy to 
continue its repetition. 

One bad effect of the policy pursued by republicans 
has been the acquisition to their ranks in the heyday of 
their prosperity of all that class of politicians who love 
the honors and emoluments of office better than the 
public interest : these men, always intending to be on 
the strongest side, are sure to be found in the ranks of 
our enemies at all dark and gloomy periods. The re- 
publican ascendency in this State was prostrated in the 
time of the embargo of 1808, by the influence of these 
men ; and to the influence of the same men does our 
State owe the triumphsof the Hartford Convention par- 
ty during the trying years of ]813 — 14 and '15. So 
strong and self sufficient had the same class of men be- 
come, at the commencement of Mr. Adams' late admin- 
istration, that they even essayed to lead the entire body 
of the republicans and lay them bound at the feet of the 
aristocracy ! 

To fight or die was the only alternative of the repub- 
lican party. In this State they have nobly contended 
— they contended with their old political adversaries, 
when nearly every man claiming to be a political leader 
went over to the enemy. The enemy with the new 
recruit of leaders have been routed and beaten : what 
favors have the republicans now to ask of them — what 
favors can those men bestow who have sold themselves 
to our political enemies ? 

The Republican Yeomanry of New- Hampshire have 
been the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night which 
it has always been safe to follow. With these it has 
ever been my pleasure and my pride to act on every 
great question of National politics : their names have 
8* 



90 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

been constantly before me as my staff and my support 
— these, ninety-nine cases in every hundred, have con- 
tinued true to principle and to patriotism. From the 
ranks of these liave proceeded those who have covered 
the Nation with glory in the tented field : these are 
safe politicians, safe defenders and safe friends. It fills 
the measure of my regret to leave such friends — may 1 

hope, NOT FOREVER ! 

1 am, gentlemen, with great respect. 

Your friend and obedient servant, 

ISAAC HILL. 
Concord, June 25, 1829. 

The first number of the New-Hampshire Pat- 
riot, under the editorial conduct of its present 
editor, was issued on the ninth of July, 1829. 

After tarrying a few weeks at Concord, and 
after placing his affairs in a proper train for final 
adjustment, Mr. Hill returned to Washington, 
and entered with renewed ardor and with his 
characteristic industry, upon the duties of his of- 
fice. But all his attention to business, his with- 
drawal from any participation in petty political 
struggles, his correct and gentlemanly deport- 
ment, his exertions to give no one just cause of 
offence where all were watching him, anxious to 
seize upon the slightest error that might be made 
an excuse for renewed denunciations, could not 
shield him from tlie calumny of personal and po- 
litical opponents. The same, oft-repeated, idle 
stories were reiterated through the columns of 
every opposition print in the Union. It was very 
evident that he had been expressly marked out 
as an individual on whom to wreak their ven- 
geance for the failure of their schemes. He was 
denounced as insignificant and odious ; odious, 
without doubt, to those who applied these epithets, 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HiLL. 91 

but insignificant he could not be called who had 
totally prostrated a thoroughly organized major- 
ity in New-Hampshire, and had paralysed the ef- 
forts of the opposition throughout New-England. 
That opposition had the baseness even to reproach 
him with his personal deformity ; as though ca- 
lamities inflicted by the hand of heaven, could be 
imputed to the unfortunate sufferer, as a crime. 

An incident occurred in the autumn of 1829, 
which is connected with the history of Mr. Hill, 
and which, at that time, created great excitement 
throughout the State. Timothy Upham of Ports- 
mouth, who had been an officer in the late war, 
and under Mr. Adams, collector of the port of 
Portsmouth, was nominated by the opposition 
party as a candidate for the chief magistracy of 
of the State. Col. Barton, the editor of the 
Patriot, conceived that he could obtain documents 
that would indubitably establish a fact which, in 
the eye's of the law-loving puritans of New-Eng- 
land, would not redound greatly to the honor of 
Gen. Uphara. In short, he openly and boldly 
accused him of a violation of the revenue laws, 
and of having amassed wealth by a series of 
smuggling transactions. Several papers tending 
to establish this fact, he knew to be in one of the 
public offices atWashington,and at his request and 
for his use, copies of them were obtained through 
the agency of Mr. Hill. The exposure of Gen. Up- 
ham's dishonorable and illegal practices threw the 
ranks of his supporters into the utmost confusion. 
Many an honest yeoman concluded that he must 
be a hollow-hearted patriot, who could reap lau- 
rels on the field, at the same moment that he was 



92 BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 

robbing' his country of the very thews and sin- 
ews of war. Although Mr. Upham's friends 
boldly declared the documents spurious, the peo- 
ple obstinately persisted in testifying- to their 
credibility, both in caucus and at the polls. The 
part which Mr. Hill had taken in bringing about 
this exposure, was greatly exaggerated and the 
malignity of the supporters of Upham, propor- 
tionably increased. The same sort of fellow- 
feeling, which had led them to sympathise in the 
misfortunes of Toby Watkins and to rail at Mr. 
Kendall, who had been in a measure, the neces- 
sary instrument of exposing his defalcations, now 
induced them to declaim in terms more bitter than 
ever against a man who had dared to be instru- 
mental in exposing the dishonorable transactions 
in which a candidate for a high public office had 
once been engaged. Their wrath at this over- 
throw of their candidate, did not, however, influ- 
ence their judgment so far as to induce them to 
submit once more, for certain defeat, the man 
who had met •with so unfortunate an accident as 
the disclosure of this little episode in the his- 
tory of his past life. 

As the session of congress approached, the 
struggle to ensure what they thought would for- 
ever disgrace Mr. Hill, and return him to his for- 
mer station a hunibled and ruined man, was ea- 
gerly commenced and perseveringly maintained 
by his personal and political opponents. Calcu- 
lations were made in the public papers, prior to 
the meeting of congress, of the exact number of 
the democratic senators, whose minds it would be 
necessary to poison against Mr. Hill to effect hi« 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 93 

rejection from the office of Second Comptroller. 
These machinations were not without their effect. 
It was made known in April, 1830, that Isaac 
Hill, the pride of the democracy of New-Hamp- 
shire, was indeed rejected from the office, for 
which the confidence of the President had thought 
him equal. A shout of exultation at this result 
rang through the anti-republican papers from one 
end of the Union to the other. One might have 
supposed from the congratulations of these party- 
heated enthusiasts, that the salvation of the coun- 
try had depended upon this decision of the senate 
and the disgrace of a humble, 'insignificant' in- 
dividual. The republicans, on the other hand, 
were deeply grieved at this act of injustice, this 
raising of the ensign of proscription ; the perfidy 
of the democratic senators who had suffered 
themselves to be deceived when they had the 
truth at their command, or who had wickedly and 
meanly betrayed the trust reposed in them, con- 
fiding in the secrecy of their executive proceed- 
ings to conceal their conduct from their abused 
constituents, was every where denounced. The 
President felt personally injured, and his real 
friends were astonished ; while the people of 
New-Hampshire thought themselves insulted by 
the indignity which had been offered them in 
the person of their favorite. Mr. Hill did not 
allow himself to be deeply affected by an act 
which he knew must have been founded partly 
upon intentional deception and in part upon delu- 
sion ; although he could not be indifferent at what 
he felt was intended as a direct and fatal stab at 
his reputation. Pie had surrendered a lucrative 



94 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

business and an Iionorable situation at hoine, in 
compliance with the wisht'S of the President ; he 
now retired from his office, according to the con- 
stitutionally-expressed will of the senate, with as 
little parade and ostentation as he had, the pre- 
ceding year, entered upon its duties. The rejec- 
tion of Mr. Hill is to be imputed, as has been 
suggested, both to the effects of misrepresenta- 
tion and the treachery of pretended friends. Mr. 
Hill could not feel that he had been advanced, by 
his appointment to the office of Second Comp- 
troller ; or that such a station was higlier than 
he deserved ; had it not been for his affijction for 
the administration from whom he received this 
mark of respect, he would not have left his pros- 
perous business in Nevz-IIampsliire for the honors 
and emoluments of this appointment. He had 
attended studiously to the duties of his office, in- 
stead of dancing upon the steps of the members 
of the senate, to secure tiieir favor. As it after- 
wards proved, the event was fortunate. The day 
after his rejection, a re-consideration was moved 
by a member of the senate, but the motion was 
decided to be out of order, as the result had al- 
ready been communicated to the Executive.'^ 



* We subjoin <i note for the information of those 
who may wi=h to learn something farther of the va- 
rious influences that were conibined in opposition to 
Mr. Hill. 

Extract of a letter from one of our Delegation in Congress, dated 

Washington, May ],1830. 
Messrs. Hill and Bnrtnii — 

The New-Hampshire Patridt arrivoii here yesterday, and I sm 
hsppy to lind ihut it spciilvs tlie sentiiiit-iUs of every democratic' 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 95 

We sliall insert here, as a s[)ecimen of the 
views of the republicans upon this unwelcome 
event, a letter froai a distinguished citizen then 
in Washington, written in the warmth of the mo- 
ment, and before the first feelings of indignation 
at such an act of injustice and treachery had 
subsided : 

Extract of a letter to the editor of the Patriot, dated 
Washington, 14th April, 1830. 

Sir — You wil! have heard before this reaches yon, of 
the rejection by the Senate, of the nomination ot your 
fellow citizen, Isaac Hill, as 2d Comptroller of the 
Treasury. The excitement produced here amon^ the 
real friends of our venerable President, by this unex- 
pected, unjust and unaccountable act, is very great. 

I could say nothing which would increase the esti- 



print in the Union, as far as I have been able to ascertain their 
views, in reference to the rejection of Mr. Hill by Uie Senate. Pa- 
pers arrive here daily from almost every section of the country 
expressing regret, surprise and astonisment at this strange and 
unaccountable procedure of the Senate. It was to be expected, 
nay it was known, that Mr. Hill would be opposed, resisted, at- 
tacked and assailed on every side and quarter by the opposition, 
by every means that the ingenuity and cunning of a desperate and 
vindictive coalition could invent. No man having met and re- 
sisted the aristocracy of the country with more force and better 
effect than Mr. Hill, he was sure to draw about him the full vials 
of inbred rancor and deadly malignity of old Hartford Convention, 
federalism, as well as the intrigue and corruption acquired by a 
base coalition. But that the friends of Demecracy — the friends of 
the administration, should lend their aid to their most deadly en- 
emies to effect the breaking down one of the pillars of democracy, 
giving a most deadly stab to the friends of the administration in 
New-Hampshire, and treating the wishes and views of the Presi- 
dent with contumely and contemjjt, is to me strange. Nay, when 
I look for the causes, dictated by consistency and justifiable mo- 
lives, it is to me passing strange — unaccountable. ^ 

I have sought for the reasons why Mr. Hill was rejected, and 1 
have sought in vain. Is Mr. Hill honest, capable and faithful .'' — 
No one will answer in the negative and lay his finger upon the 
particular instance, and show wherein he has not proved himself 
so. Does he not sustain a fair tporal character, eminently mark- 
ed by a rigid adherance to truth and probity .' No one can answer 
in the negative. Has he not rendered important services to hia 



96 BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. 

mation in which Mr. Hill is held hy the democracy of 
New-Hampshire. They remember his uniform, firm, 
inflexible and honest course in all trials and through 
all vicissitudes. 

Who was it, that, when an apprentice, dared to raise 
his voice and wield his pen in support of democratic 
principles during the Embargo, even in opposition to 
the views and opinions of his master ? 

Who was it, that, in hisfirst youthful essays as editor 
of the Patriot, rendered essential service in restoring 
to democracy the lost majority of your State, and ef- 
fecting the election of the venerable Langdon to the 
office of Governor ? 

Who was it, that, during the last war, in defiance of 
denunciation, proscription, abuse and personal danger, 
manfully sustained the cause of his country, and para- 
lysed the efforts of traitors in New-Hampshire ? 

Who was it, that, as soon as the war ended, again uni- 
ted with the democracy of your State, and gave it the 
ascendency ? 

Who was it, that, in 1823 — 4, dared, almost alone, to 
raise his voice with the democracy of the South, in fa- 
vor of the republican Crawford, and to condemn the 



country, and has he not been incessantly engaged through an active 
life, thus far, in a-defeuce of the equal rights of tlie people of all 
classes and professions ? Every lover of freedom must answer 
in the afiirmative. 

Thenwhy ishe thus proscribed in the house of his friends? — 
Why should the cold hand of iui^ratitude be made to bear upon him 
at tliis time ? Why is a life of strict integrity and devoted patri- 
otism to be thus reiributed ? To these enquries there is no reply — 
there can be no justifiable cause assigned. 

The office was proffered to him with the best feelings and mo- 
tives on the part of the President, not only towards Mr, Hill, but 
the democratic party in the north. The office, of itself, was of 
minor consideration to him personally. It was tendered unasked 
for by him, and accepted with much indifference and hesitancy. It 
was of immense more importance to the democracy, of the coun- 
try than to him, and by the special solicitations ot his friends he 
was induced to accept the office. 

To pretend that Mr. Hill's rejection is attributed to his being of 
the prolession of a printer, and that he published Jonathan Rus- 
sel's book, in which it is alleged there is a slander on Mrs-. Adams, 
is all moonshine— mere fudge. I will not harbor so contemptible 
an opinion of any of our legislators or statesmen, as to suppose 
that any one, for a moment would attempt to gull the public with 



BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 97 

amalgamating feeling which produced such fatal effects 
upon the purity of our government ? 

Who was it, that again d.ared, in defiance of section- 
al feelings and local prejudices, and in jeopardy of 
his own interests, to raise his voice with the de- 
mocracy of the Middle States, the South and the 
West, and attempt to array the democrats of New- 
Hampshire and New-England in favor of the Hero of 
New-Orleans, and in support of purity of elections, and 
reform in the administration of the general government? 

Who was it, that re-united the dem.ocracy of New- 
Hampshire, which the spirit of amalgamation had 
scattered, and bi ought it to support the present admin- 
istration, almost as soon as it was organized ? 

Others may have acted conspicuous parts in these 
scenes; but it is no disparagement to them to say, that 
ISAAC HILL was the chief actor. Without his talents 
and perseverance, there is no man who will not say, 
that the democracy of New-Hampshire would have 
been, at this moment, as scattered and weak as is that 
of Vermont. 

But the effects of his fidelity and perseverance have 
not been confined to his own State. The example of 



Buch miserable subterfuge. No man,of ordinary sagacity will pre- 
sume to pass oft" such trash. It is too palpably absurd and silly to 
entitle it to one moment's serious reflection. 

The causes which led to this result have not been fully develop- 
ed, and probably never vt-ill be avowed. But enough has been dis- 
closed, which with a variety of incidents and circumstances con- 
nected with this transaction, go to show that this business has not 
been done up with that strict regard for fairness, that an intelligent 
and high minded public have a right to expect or require. A fe- 
verish anxiety and fearful looking forward to great ulterior objects, 
has given a direction and led to this result. And if I am not 
much mistaken, certain individuals, in their overweening desire to 
control men and measures, have not only injured their cause, but 
have gotten themselves into a dilemma, out of which they will 
find it difficult to extricate themselves. 

Report says, that Mr. Hill will be re-nominated, and will be 
approved by the t'enate. But to this I give little heed or credit. 
Confident as I am, that this thrust at Mr. Hill will have precisely 
the reverse effect on him that its abettors intended — that instead 
of breaking him down or lessening his influence, it will tend to 
raise and elevate him still higher iu every virtuous and patriotic 
mind; 1 feel quite indifferent as to what course may be observe^l 
towards him in this case. 

9 



98 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

New-Hampshire has operated with a powerful impulse 
Upon her neighbors in New-England, and other States 
are rising from the inglorious thraldom into which they 
have been betrayed by amalgamation and political trea- 
chery. 

The President thought fit to select this gentleman, so 
talented, so useful and so persevering, to aid him in a 
subordinate station in reforming the administration of 
this government and bringing it back to the principles 
and practices of the glorious days of Mr. Jefferson. — 
The office of 2d Comptroller was of little consequence 
to Mr. Hill; it was not much that the sterling democra- 
cy of the North should have one representative.in the 
Executive, occupying a place of so little influence and 
importance. But they were satisfied — they were rally- 
ing with doubled force and more than redoubled vigor 
in support of Gen. Jackson. 

What is Mr. Hill's reward ? What is the democracy 
of New-England told ? Not an imputation is cast upon 
his integrity, his capacity, or the purity of his political 
principles. It is not pretended that he has acted cor- 
ruptly or even erred in the discharge of his public duties. 
On the contrary, it is well known that the office of 2d 
Comptroller, under his direction, has assumed an impor- 
tance and an usefulness which it never before possessed. 
He had the full confidence of the President and every 
member of his cabinet. He had acquired the personal 
respect and esteem of all those with whom he was as- 
sociated. 

Yet is Mr. Hill rejected ! By whom ? Was it by the 
Adams men in a moment of accidental povver ? No ; they 
had not the strength. He has fallen in the house of his 
friends. The enemies of all that is pure and talented 
in this administration have found allies among its pro- 
fessed friends. Men of the South who have always 
considered the democracy of the North as their natural 
allies, have turned upon and destroyed their friend and 
supporter. Even the Georgians, whose principles Mr. 
lliJl defended when almost every other tongue was mute. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 99 

are said to have been conspicuous in this act of political 
murder. 

What was the cause ? Some went against hirnuecause 
he was an editor ! What ! — proscribe a man on account 
of the profession or occupation to which he belongs ? — 
Even so ! This is the republicanism of some men who 
call themselves republicans. To protect the purity of 
the press, they would proscribe its managers from offices 
of honor and profit like convicted felons, and thus throw 
it wholly into the hands of those who are willing to wear 
a/eZon's brand. Could a more fatal blow be struck at 
the dignity and independence of the press ? Who that 
has honor, ambition or talents will seek subsistence or 
elevation through the managejiient of the press, while 
the only reward of his complete success is to be con- 
spicuous infmny ! Who will hereafter stand forth to 
rally the democracy of New-Hampshire, or any other 
State against a corrupt administration, when the only 
return from his successful political associates is to be 
proscription and degradation ? And who pronounces 
this sentence upon editors and printers ? A few lawyers 
who thrust the editors and printers forward to fight their 
battles, and follow themselves, like plunderers upon the 
battle field, to gather the spoils. They do not hesitate 
to make political harangues and write for the newspa- 
pers themselves, to promote their own objects ; and it 
is only when the fruits of victory are to be enjoyed, that 
Ihey deem the printers and editors unworthy of office ! — 
Will the people, the real democracy of the country, 
sanction a course so repugnant to sound policy, and 
the equal, constitutional rights of the managers of the 
press ? 

Rumor saj's, that other circumstances were brought 
to bear upon Mr. Hill — but they are either so frivolous 
or contemptible in their character, that I cannot believe 
they had any weight against Mr. Hill's merits and servi- 
ces, upon the minds of grave and honorable Senators. I 
shall be glad to find, that any of the Jackson men who 
voted against him, acted under some delusion which niay 



100 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

redeem them from the charge of ingratitude and injus- 
tice, to which they are now obnoxious. 

It is impossible to know, what took place while the 
Senate were in secret session. There may be many pal- 
liating circumstances which open doors would disclose- 
But although every person in the secret conclave is 
sworn to secrecy, some malignant spirit loved the meets 
of vengeance so much more than he regarded the sanc- 
tity of his oath, that he enabled the opposition papers in 
this city to state the next morning, the precise vote by 
which Mr. Hill was rejected. 

I assure you sir, on my own personal knowledge, that 
the President has entire confidence in Mr. Hill, and 
looks upon his rejection as a blow aimed at himself. He 
cannot protect those whom heiionors with appointments, 
from combinations of designing men operating on the ap- 
proving power — but the people can. Enjoying the con- 
fidence and esteem of the President and his whole cabinet, 
Mr. Hill returns to you with pure hands and an honest 
heart. Those who have been defeated in their ambitous 
designs by his perseverance ; those who find the abuses 
by which they profited corrected by his vigilance; those 
who wish to destroy Gen. Jackson, defeat all reform and 
plunge our government into the sea of corruptions from 
which it has been redeemed, exult in Mr. Plill's rejection. 
But the REAL friends of the President and his principles, 
look to the people and I^egislature of New-Hampshire to 
wipe away the stigma cast upon this just and true man, 
by the unjust and cruel vote of the Senate. Let them 
say, by an act so signal that it cannot be misunderstood, 
whether the President did wrong in the appointment of 
Mr. Hill, and whether a man so distinguished for his vir- 
tues, his talents and his services, is unworthy of public 
station. 

I have faintly expressed what I feel. I am not a cit- 
izen of New-England; but I admire her democracy and 
will not silently see it proscribed. If I could make every 
democrat in New-Hampshire feel as I do, the reputation 
of Mr. Hill would soon be redeemed from the injustice 
of the Senate. But if 1 may judge what will b« tho 



IBIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 101 

feelings of the friends of the President in New-Hamp- 
shire from those which are hourly exhibited by them 
here, they will not need to be stimulated by me. To 
the democracy of your State, I therefore commit him in 
perfect confidence that he will be redeemed, sustained, 
and placed on higher ground than he has ever before 
occupied."* 

And the confidence of the writer in the firm- 
ness of the democracy of New-Hampshire, was 
not misplaced. The term for which the Hon. Mr. 
Woodbury had been elected to the United States 
Senate, was soon to close ; and the Hillsborough 
Republican, a democratic paper printed at Am- 



* We cannot refrain from adding the following tribute of respect 
for Mr. Hill, called forth by the event \s e are now commemorating, 
from the late brave soldier, General Henry Leavenworth ; whose 
remains Avere this spring brought to his native State, New-York, 
from the wilds of the west, and interred amid the united testimo- 
nials of sorrow, paid to liis memory by thousands of grateful cit- 
izens ; 

Jefferson Barracks, May 6, 1830. 

Dear Sir — Every friend cf his country who belongs to these Uni- 
ted States and who knows and recollects the valuable services of 
Isaac Hill, as editor of the New-Hampshire Patriot, during the late 
war, must regret the rejection of his nomination to be second 
Comptroller of the Treasury. 

Isaac Hill with his New-Hampshire Patriot, did more than any 
other man known to me, to put dcwn the " Washington Benevo- 
lent" and " Peace Societies" during tl e war. 

While one of these Societies w as celebrating their anniversaries 
or attempting to prostitute the birth-day of the father of his coun- 
try, to their unholy purposes of opposition to their country, at Bur 
lington, Vermont, on the 22d of February, 1 81 3, the spirit stirring 
influence of Isaac Hill with his Patriot, contributed to induce 
thirteen hardy " Green Mountain boys" to go in a body to the wri- 
ter of this letter and enlist for " during the war." 

Services like these should be knowai and remembered, 

I confess that I feel proud of having made the enlistment, but 
the credit due to Mr. Hill, is as far above that to which I am enti- 
tled, as that due to the able and scientific performer upon an organ 
in above that of him who blows the bellows. 
I am, Sir, respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. LEAVENWORTH. 
9* 



102 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC KILL. 

herst, the scene of Mr. Hill's youthful days, al- 
most immediately nominated him as the succes- 
sor of Mr. Woodbury, in the following article : 

" HON. ISAAC HILL. 

The most prominent news of the day is the unexpect- 
ed information that the Hon. Isaac Hill has been 
rejected by the Senate of the United States from the of- 
fice of Second Comptroller of the Treasury, to which 
he was appointed by the President. The whole body of 
the Aristocracy are now in exstacies, whether found in 
the federal ranks or falsely disguised within the republi- 
can limits — endeavoring to cloak treachery to the cause, 
and ingratitude to one of the most intrepid and success- 
ful advocates of the pai-ty with false and deceptive pre- 
tensions. They are shouting and exulting as did the 
PhiUstines of old when they had shorn Sampson of his 
locks and deprived him of the light of heaven. But 
these locks will grow again, and he will rise, like Aniens, 
with renovated and redoubled vigor. His pretended 
friends may have furnished him with a poisoned shirt 
from the wardrobe of Deianira, but he will be found 
as invulnerable as Achilles. And he will yet pulldown 
the pillars of the Temple of Federalism, and prostrate 
his enemies m the dust, though he should perish in the 
attempt. His zeal is of the true, untiring, undeviating 
cast — appalled by no terrors, embarrassed by no diffi- 
culties — and his abilities are equal to his zeal. The 
Democracy of New-Hampshire cannot dispense with 
his services ; and if the Senate of the LTnited States will 
not confirm him m the office to which he was appointed, 
they shall have him as a member of their own body — to 
scrutinize their conduct, to control their excesses, and to 
prevent their prostituting the republican name and cause 
by patronizing /erferaZ principles. We have no hesi- 
tation in predicting that he will have the support of ths 
whole republican interest both in and out of the legislature 
of New-Hampshire as a candidate for the vacancy in 
the Senate of the United States — and he will he chosen. 



BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 108 

It is in vain to attempt the contrary. The people of 
this State too well know, and too highly appreciate his 
services to suffer him to be persecuted and sacrificed by 
the federalists. To the people of New-Hampshire 
it is no objection that he is a mechanic, a printer — that 
he was never bred a lawyer; — and that he is second 
to none of that class for political information and influ- 
ence — they consider as no dishonor to the native talents 
or assiduous application of Mr. Hill — no disgrace to 
the Granite State. Nor do they impute to him as a 
crime that he has been a successful advocate of democ- 
racy, or look upon him with a suspicious eye because 
his influence has contributed so much to enlighten the 
public mmd, and to curb the aspiring aristocrats. We 
therefore, with the fullest confidence in the abilities, in- 
tegrity, and undeviating patriotism of a long tried and 
approved friend of the Republican cause, do nominate 
and announce the HON. ISAAC HILL as candidate for 
the appointment of Senator of the United States, for 
the State of New-Hampshire, to serve from the 4th 
day of March next for the term of six years." 

This nomination was eagerly seconded by the 
republican papers throughout New-Hampshire ; 
and indeed those in the neighboring States could 
not refrain from expressing their wishes that he 
might be elected. Mr. Hill arrived in Concord 
early in June, and on the ninth of the same month 
was elected to the Federal Senate, by the con- 
currence of both branches of the legislature. — - 
The vote was as follows : In the House of Rep- 
resentatives, for Mr. Hill, 117 ; scattering repub- 
lican votes, 24 ; opposition of every shape, 79. 
In the Senate, the vote was nine to three. 

The joy of the republicans at this event, wai 
universally expressed in the publications of the 
day. The chagrin of those who, by promoting^ 



304 BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 

the rejection of Mr. Hill, had unwittingly advanc- 
ed him to one of the highest offices in the gift of 
the people of a State, was equally general and 
was manifested in the denunciations, the slanders 
and the ribaldry, which were poured, now upon 
Mr. Hill, now upon the President, now upon the 
Legislature of New-Hampshire. To show the 
views of the republicans in a part of the Union 
where no sectional feelings could have operated, 
in relation to the election of Mr. Hill, we subjoin 
a short extract from a newspaper, which has since, 
by some fair business transaction, or other curious 
metamorphosis, received new light and imbibed a 
totally diiferent opinion of the character of Mr. 
Hill, — and strange to say, of the whole democrat- 
ic party : 

Extract from the N. Y. Courier and Enquirer. 
" ELECTION OF IS4AC HILL. 

It is with the most lively satisfaction we announce 
the election of Isaac Hit^l as a Senator in Congress 
for six jiears, from the State of New-Hampshire; an 
event which we hail as the greatest triumph of the free- 
dom of the press, of the voice of the people, and of 
the unalienable rights of the citizens, which has occur- 
red since the revolutionary war. The vote stood for 
Mr, Hill in the Assembly 117 out of 220, and in the 
Senate 9 out of 12. There was no want of federal lob- 
by members from other States to produce a different 
result, but justice triumphed. And what is there in the 
case of Isaac Hill, it may be asked in Europe and A- 
merica, that makes his election to the Senate, as a mat- 
ter of so much triumph, of so much unalloyed gratifi- 
cation ? We will tell his story. Isaac Hill is a printer, 
and was the editor of the New-Haixipshire Patriot. — 
He was always the friend of his country and of its re- 
publican institutions, and when that country during the 
late war, was about to be sold by traitors to the enemy; 



BIOGRAPHY OF lilAC HILL. 105 

when the war was declared' wicked and unjustifiable,' 
and the Hartford Convention meditated the formation 
of a separate treaty with England, his voice was heard 
in the Granite State and in the mountains of Vermont, 
animating the people, and arousing them to a just sense 
of their danger and the blessings of freedom. He was 
a thorn in the side of the tories, and although living in 
the hot-bed of the opposition, he pursued his course 
fearlessly, independently, and successfully. He was 
a democrat, not manufactured from the changeable 
silks of the day, but born such, and his political consis- 
tency has never been questioned. He supported Jef- 
ferson, Madison, Monroe, Crawford, and finally took an 
early stand in favor of the man who has shed his blood 
for his country and covered her arms with glory. — 
This Isaac Hill, the father of a family — a freeman of 
his State — a citizen of the Union — one who had rep- 
resented his State in the Senate — a man of unsullied 
private character, was nominated by the President of 
the United States as one of the Comptrollers of the 
Treasury, and by a foul plot got up by Tazewell and 
Tyler of Virginia, Iredell of North Carolina, and 
Smith of South Carolina, he was rejected by the Senate 
because he was an Editor and a Printer. It is true 
thatseveral Jackson Senators also voted against him, but 
that arose from a false accusation that he had written 
some calumnies against Mrs. Adams — which objec- 
tion was set up to Cover the real design of hostility to 
the Editors. And what isthe result ? The people ot 
the State of New-Hampshire, one of the thirteen Con- 
tinental States, have, through their representatives in 
the Legislature, sent Isaac Hill to take his seat for six 
years in that very Senate where an attempt was made 
to disgrace him forever, A sovereign and independent 
State has, by this act, punished those very Senators 
who " felt power and forgot right." Were we in the 
place of Isaac Hill, we would reject the Presidency of 
the United States if attainable, to enjoy the supreme 
triumph — the pure — the unalloyed, — the legitimate vic- 
tory of stalking into that verySenate and taking our 
seat — of looking our enemies in the very eye — of say- 
ing to the men who violated their oaths by attempting^ 
to dififranckise citizens, " give me room — stand back — 



106 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

do you know me ? I am that Isaac Hill of New-Hamp- 
shire, who, in this very spot you slandered, vilified, and 
stript of his rights — the people, your masters, have sent 
me here to take my seat in this very chamber as your 
equal and your peer." 

This is indeed a triumph — a glorious triumph to the 
conducters of the press throughout our country ; every 
editor, every printer will feel it as such, although frorh 
circumstances, many may not be able to express it. It 
was a traitorous ground of objection and assumed only 
to reach an officer who would not sanction the robbery 
of the public money. The four Senators implicated in 
this conspiracy, though strong in pride, and fortified by 
the aristocracy of the country, will never get over the 
blow — and will never be permitted tranquilly to exer- 
cise power in the government, while a type and a 
printing press exist," 

In 1831, at the spring election, Mr. Hill was 
supported by the democrats of Concord for the 
honorary, though laborious office of moderator 
of the town meeting. The town had long been 
federal, and it was supposed that his nomination 
for the only station which he could constitution- 
ally accept, might have a favorable influence on 
the result of the election. The regeneration of 
the capital of the State, was however reserved 
for another year. Mr. Hill and the other repub- 
lican candidates were defeated by a very close 
vote. 

Mr. Hill passed the summer of 1831 at Con- 
cord. The federal papers persisted in ascribing 
to him the most unbounded influence over the 
people of New-Hampshire, and even over the 
general government. It was, certainly, either 
highly complimentary to him, or else tantamount 
to an insult upon the common sense of the rep- 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 107 

fesentatives of the State, assembled in legisla- 
ture, to cry aloud, — did Mr. Hill chance to take 
his seat in the gallery with other citizens, — -that 
Dictation was the motive of his presence ; that 
he liad placed himself there to overawe an assem- 
blage of two hundred freemen ! If their accounts 
could be credited, scores of faithless postmasters 
were daily dismissed by the interference of this 
same universal meddler — a man, who must have 
had more hands than the fabled Briareus of old, 
or must have possessed the power of dictating to 
a dozen scribes simultaneously, to have transact- 
ed all the multitudinous and diverse affairs, which 
were attributed to his agency. Two thirds,^ — 
perhaps a much larger proportion of the pungen- 
cy of the editorial matter of the opposition pa- 
pers in this State, would be lost, were the word 
dictation, struck from their vernacular. It is to 
them, what has long been to chemists a desidera- 
tum, a universal solvent, by which can be explain- 
ed every movement not otherwise intelligible ; a 
sort of picklock of such curious shape and con- 
struction, as to throw open every mystery in the 
political moves of the day, however guarded or 
abstruse. 

In August of this year, General Timothy Up- 
ham, late Collector of Portsmouth, almost Gover- 
nor of the State, and '*a brave and gallant officer 
of the last war," made a display of his bravery 
and gallantry in the streets of Exeter. He at- 
tacked Mr. Hill, exclaiming, " You are the d — d 
rascal to whom I owe all my misfortunes for the last 
three years,'' and struck him several blows with a 
cowskin. Had he not been driven to desperation 



108 BIOGRJlPHT or ^SAAC HILL. 

by the espoaure of his illegal acts, and the con- 
sequent loss of his reputation, nothing- could have 
induced a man of giant frame, possessing the 
least spark of honor in his composition, to assault 
one, like Mr. Hill, small in person, lame and des- 
titute of bodily strength. But all that has been 
made known of Upham's character, and the de- 
liberate manner in which the act was perpetrated, 
make it very evident, that he had taken all these 
thing's into account, before he had dared to make 
the attack. Otherwise, he would doubtless have 
singled out some individual, who had been more 
directly concerned in bringing the smuggling pa- 
pers to light, than had been Mr. Hill. The late 
John P. Decatur procured the papers, carried them 
to Washington, and by their evidence obtained 
the dismission of Mr. Upham from the office of 
Collector. When Mr, U. was put in nomination 
for Governor, and his claims as a vetejan soldier 
and patriot urged upon the public, Mr. Hill, at the 
request of the editor of the Patriot, procured the 
documents and sent them on for publication. — 
This was the head and front of his offending. 
But — he was a lame man; and Mr. Upham deter- 
mined to wreak his vengeance upon him for the 
loss of his colieciorship, of his election as Gov- 
ernor, and subsequently as representative of the 
town of Portsmouth. To all these misfortunes, 
has since been added the virtual loss of a libel suit 
which Mr. U., to sustain his declaration of inno- 
cence, had commenced against the publishers of 
the Patriot. He is now, and doubtless will ever 
remain, in private life, and had it not been for 
this dastardly act of mingled cowardice and 



BIOGRAPHY or ISAAC HILL. 109 

meanness, his name would probably never again 
be brought before the public. The act was uni- 
versally deprecated by every man possessing 
" decency and respectability," though there have 
not been wanting individuals of the very party 
who exclusively arrogate to themselves these 
qualities of a gentleman, that have exulted at 
this cowskinning of a senator, and have cast it 
in his face as a reproach. The manner in which 
Mr. Hill received the infliction, is truly in accor- 
dance with the pacific character of the man. — 
He made not the least shadow of resistance,took no 
notice at all of the affair, and made no complaint ; 
but the Grand Jury, then in session at Exeter, pre- 
ferred an indictment against the offender, who was 
fined by the court. The protection of the law 
should ever be preferred to a resort to violence. 

Mr. Hill, this year, received from the Executive 
of New-Hampshire the appointment of Justice of 
Peace and Quorum throughout the State. To 
this ofRce, under the present organization of gov- 
ernment, few positive duties are necessarily at- 
tached. It is usually tendered to those who have 
made themselves eminent in the service of the 
people, as a mark of respect for their character 
and virtues. Mr. Hill had been in the commission 
of the peace as early as 1820. 

In December, Mr. Hill took his seat in that 
body, which had vainly hoped to disgrace him in 
the eyes of the American people. He appeared 
upon the floor of the Senate of the United States, 
in the humble garb of a printer, and with the 
modest yet decided air of a man conscious of the 
uprightness of his motives. He owed his place 
10 



110 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

to the affections of the people of New-Hampshire ; 
the very same people who had been showering 
upon him the gifts of fortune and the blessings 
of an honorable fame for more than a quarter of 
a century. The extent of his deep and heartfelt 
obligations towards that public from whom he had 
received so many benefits, he was never disposed 
to conceal. He had ever seized upon all suit- 
able opportunities to make an expression of his 
acknowledgments. Yet was he never lavish of 
words and thanks ; he relied upon his actions as 
the surest and safest indications of the sincerity 
of his professions. He had made a firm resolution 
never to desert his princij)1es ; he had, like the 
Carthaginian general of old, been sworn in early 
youth upon the altar of republicanism and equal 
rights. He felt fully the importance of his high 
situation. He felt that he was raised to such a 
station to see, in the words of the great Roman 
orator, ne quid respuhlica capiat detrimenhim, that 
he might guard the republic from injury. He 
felt, too, that the eyes of jealous rivals, — men 
who had conspired to humble him, — were fixed up- 
on him, anxiously anticipating his every act and 
expression, to convert them to his dishonor. Pie 
knew what their sentiments were towards him ; 
that many who treated him with every external 
mark of respect, only awaited some error of con- 
duct or of speech to pour out upon him the full 
fervor of their malignity. If detected in fault, 
he felt that he could expect no indulgence ; 

**If I once fall, how many knees, now bending. 
Would stamp the heel of hate into my breast." 



BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. Ill 

In the early part of January, he attended the 
festival of the Columbia Typog-raphical Society, 
held at Washington, and made some remarks in 
relation to the ' mystical art ' of printing. Mr. 
Hill has always felt and manifefited oeep interest 
in every thing relating to this, the profession of 
his choice. It was, we believe, in the course of 
ihe ensuing summer, that he gave a history of 
tne rise and progress of the art, in an address 
before the Concord branch of the New-Hampshire 
Lyceum. 

In February, Mr. Hill made long and able 
speeches upon the Tariff question, then the all- 
engrossing topic in the National legislature. — 
Perhaps, no succeeding effort of his has ever dis- 
played such extent of research, such clearness 
and certainty of knowledge, such exactness in 
statements of facts, and such lucid inferences 
from those statements, as characterize these pro- 
ductions — his first great effort in the Senate. — 
They were widely circulated throughout the 
country ; no citizen of New-Hampshire found 
cause in them to blush for his representative. 
They were able, disinterested ; practical and plain, 
and created much excitement, particularly among 
those gentry who had anticipated food for mirth, 
and a fit subject for ridicule in the productions of 
a printer — -a mechanic — a man who was absolute- 
ly obliged to read his speeches. Such men, if 
any such there were, met with a woful disap- 
pointment. They found that a self-taught labor- 
er of New-England could display as much sound 
sense, and could write in a style as attractive, 
because more plain and simple, than many a son 



112 niOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL- 

of luxury ; many a fortunate intlividual who had 
been nursed in the lap of indulgence ; had been 
trained from the cradle for contests of intellect 
and the debates of the forum ; who possessed 
powerful patrons, through whom to ensure ad- 
vancement ; 

" who, for cousins. 

Could count up Congress-men by dozens." 

Mr. Walsh of the National Gazette, finding no 
better objection, displayed his aristocratic feelings 
by a sneer at Mr. Hill as being a self-educated 
man, and at his speeches, as the work of a me- 
chanic. We wish our limits would allow our 
placing these lengthy speeches entire in the Ap- 
pendix ; they are of such a nature — an unbrok- 
en chain of argument, — that no extracts would 
prove satisfactory. 

In the spring, Mr. Hill made a short yet able 
argument upon the Pension Bill. In his views 
as developed in this speech,"^' he powerfully se- 
conded the efforts of his present colleague, Mr. 
Hubbard, then in the House. He proved himself 
sound in his views of national polity and national 
gratitude, and has earned the affections of every 
surviving patriot of the Revolution and of every 
man who feels a heartfelt desire to assist in 
smoothing the downward course of those few 
ancients who have outlived their day and gene- 
ration and remain to us the only monuments of 
the days and the spirit of Revolutionary times. — 
His feelings were with them ; the blood that ran 
in his veins, was tinged with the patriotism of 



See Appendix G. 



BIOGRAPHY OF 18AAC HILL. US 

that stormy era. Mr. Hill made also, during this 
session, a lengthy speech upon the Apportionment 
Bill, in which he opposed as illegal and unconsti- 
tutional, the principle of the representation of 
fractions ; for which doctrines, although no argu- 
ments can be adduced that gainsay ihem, he has 
received his full measure of abuse. A proposi- 
tion having been brought up, — apparently for no 
other design than further to embarrass the Post 
Office Departiuent, whose mails were already 
loaded down with documents franked by honora- 
ble senators and representatives, and through its 
unavoidable misfortunes, to throw odium upon an 
administration, which had as yet done nothing, 
that, fairly explained, was obnoxious to the feel- 
ings and sentiments of the American people, — to 
abolish entirely the postage upon newspapers, 
Mr. Hill opposed the measure with all his strength. 
He displayed his love of economy- ; he wished to 
carry out those principles of reform, to secure 
which, he had done his humble part in supporting 
the present administration and in opposing Mr. 
Adams. He demonstrated the ruinous tendency 
of such a system ; that it would sap the very 
life-blood, the vital principle of the administra- 
tion of the Post Office. The tax at present was 
but small, hardly sufficient to restrain the circu- 
lation of newspapers within proper limits ; if re- 
moved, the mails would be overloaded with ephe- 
meral publications. Mr. Plill would naturally have 
been expected to support the other side ; in the 
general circulation of newspapers and of political 
intelligence, his whole life had been spent, nnd 
all his feelings were enlisted. But the good of 
10^ 



114 BiOGRAFllY OF ISAAC HILL, 

his country was a greater consideration than the 
gratification of his own selfish or personal pre- 
dilections. In this, he displaj'^ed a disinterested- 
ness, similar if not equal to that involved in his 
efforts against the American System. He warmly 
opposed high protective duties, as being incon- 
sistent with true republican principles, as being 
unnecessary and inexpedient ; and yet, at that 
very time, a considerable part of his property was 
vested in the manufacturing business. He alluded 
to this circumstance in his speech, not as a vindi- 
cation of his motives, but to sustain him in some 
statements of facts. At the close of Mr. Hill's 
speech on the Postage bill, a personal and vindic- 
tive attack was made upon him by Mr. Clayton, 
and the notorious John Holmes of Maine. Mr. 
Hill was not afraid to state the reasons for the 
faith that was in him, and to the ungenerous, un- 
gentlernanly remarks which had been made, ap- 
parently for the purpose of frightening him from 
his principles, he returned a happy reply : 

SPEECH OF MR. HILL OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE, 

In Senate, May 14, 1S32, in reply to Messrs. Clayton 
and Holmes, on the bill to establish certain Post 
Roads, and discontinue others. 

As while this bill was under consideration, before the 
Committee of the Whole, an attack, unprecedented, I 
hope and believe, in the annals of this Legislature, up- 
on any member, was made upon me, I feel bound, as 
a duty which I owe to the people of the State whose 
voice sent nie here, to ask liberty of the Senate to otier 
my explanation and defence. I do it, at this time, at 
the suggestion of my friends : for reallj , when the gen- 
tlemen had finislied each his labored and studied effort, 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 115 

concocted it may be in this House, it may be over the 
midnight lamp, I did not consider any thing intended for 
me, beyond the merits of the question then under con- 
sideration, as worthy of an answer. 

It should be recollected, that I had made no attack, 
personally, on either the Senator from Delaware, [Mr. 
Clayton,] or the Senator from Maine, [Mr. Hoinies :] 
I noticed the previous arguments of both, as 1 thought, 
in a respectful manner : and as one of the gentlen)en 
had, in my opinion, strayed far from the question, I in- 
tended nothing offensive to him in the pleasant allusion 
for which I was interrupted hy the Chair, by endeav- 
oring to account for that, and in expressing the hope 
that he might, when in a different situation, be better 
satisfied, if not with this wicked administration, with the 
wicked world at least. 

If the Senators from Delaware and Maine are not 
pleased with my manner, nor with my appearance, nor 
yet with my principles, I can assure the gentlemen I am 
no better pleased with theirs. As Senators, I respect 
them; as individuals, when I shall seek their good opin- 
ions or their kind offices, or ask for or need their mercy, 
I might be disappointed if I expected either : their good 
opinions, their kind offices and their mercy, however, 
will come when I shall ask for them. 

The Senator from Delaware, on whom I have at no 
time made an unkind remark in this body, charges me 
with a violation of the rules of the Senate by sometimes 
reading what I have to say; and asks if such punish- 
ments as hearing me are to be inflicted on, and to be 
endured by, the Senate. If I am permitted to act at all 
in this body, I will assure the gentleman I shall take my 
own way to do it; and that will be always, except in 
justifiable defence, to communicate in as short and con- 
cise^a manner as possible what relates to the question 
under consideration. 

The time has been, Mr. President, in other legislative 
bodies than this, when I have participated in debate 
without confining myself to notes of any sort; and I 
have the best reasons to believe that I there discharged 



116 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

my duty acceptably to those who placed mc there. To 
those who placed me here am I now accountable; I 
have a right here to consume, if I so choose, as much 
time as the Senator from Delaware or even the Senator 
from Maine. I shall not, however, do that. My views 
on the post office bill were given by the request of other 
gentlemen. I should not have volunteered even on that 
question, had not gentlemen older than myself desired 
it of me. 

I might, Mr. President, talk in my way, without note 
or scrip, for three days, if it was my purpose to throw 
embarrassment on public measures, and to prevent the 
business of the legislature from proceeding. In that 
time I might drag into this body, on almost any question, 
the characters of persons who are absent and who can- 
not stand here in their defence. I might misrepresent 
almost every fact connected with the government or its 
administration; and I might (if the Chair would suffer 
me to proceed) misrepresent and falsify the conduct and 
character of honorable Senators themselves. But, so 
long as reason holds her empire in the breast, I never 
can, I never will do this : respect for myself, respect 
for the people I represent, nay, sir, respect for the Sen- 
ate, will forbid it. 

If I have violated the rules of the Senate, surely that 
has been an error of the head — not of the heart. I sup- 
posed, Mr. President, that all Senators, so long as they 
have used decent language, had the liberty of speech. I 
did not suppose the gag-law was to be applied to one 
member, while other members were permitted to say 
what they pleased. If we have here a privileged class, 
I am yet to learn in what part of the constitution or laws 
that privileged class is designated. 

The Senator from Maine avowed his object to be that 
I should be silenced, and that I must expect to be lace- 
rated and whipped into silence. Does he know the kind 
of man he is dealing with .' Does he know that what 
man dare do for the public welfare, the man by him as- 
sailed dare ? Does he know that man has never quail- 
ed under the assaults of men more potent than any who 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 117 

have assailed him here, in times even more trying than 
these ? 

If I sometimes read cm essay, (as the gentleman term 
it,) it is for the advantage of the Senate, if they hear me 
at all; for, otherwise I might talk many hours, and even 
days, without throwing much light on the subject. I 
might repeat stale jokes and jibes, if I had ever learnt 
them, and edify a crowd of young men or ladies, who 
relished and admired such jokes and jibes. 1 might ex- 
haust the vocabulary of billingsgate, and display all the 
talent of the vulgar, drunken blackguard, if I had ever 
studied his language, and made it a model for my imi- 
tation. The Senate had much better bear with me in a 
concise argument, such as I can most conveniently pre- 
sent to them, than take m.e as a pugilist or gladiator in 
a different field. 

I do not, Mr. President, deviate from the parliament- 
ary practice. There is a rule of the Senate that "no 
member shall speak more than twice, in any one debate, 
on the same day, without leave of the Senate." IIow 
often is this rale of the Senate violated ? Yet, I suppose, 
because the rule is violated without objection, it is con- 
sidered BO violation. It is a rule of the British parlia- 
ment that " no one is to speak inipertmently or beside 
the question, superfluously or tediously." Is that rule 
ever transgressed here ? Another rule of the Senate is : 
"No member shall speak to another, or otherwise inter- 
rupt the business of the Senate, or read any printed pa- 
per while the journals or public papers are reading, or 
when any member is speaking in any debate," Is that 
rule ever violated ? I know of no rule which precludes 
a member from writing down what he is going to say; but 
I do know, if some speakers had written down all they 
did say, and that writing were published, the world might 
be astonished. 

In some of the first parliamentary bodies of the world, 
speeches are written out and read as they are written. — 
I have seen myself one of the most eminent lawyers 
read his argument in a case requiring precision. In the 
French Chamber of Deputies, I am told by those who 



118 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

have attended there, a larger part of the speeches are 
read from the lostrum. The speeches of that great and 
exalted man, Lafayette — speeches which are translated 
into our language, and admired on this side of the At- 
lantic — are thus delivered. Shall it be said, under des- 
potic France, there was a liberty of discussion in her 
legislative assemblies which is not allowed in the Amer- 
ican Senate ? Should I be precluded, as other Senators 
are not, from my own method of delivering my senti- 
ments to this Senate, I shall not desist from attempting 
to present my views on every occasion when it may be 
necessary to explain my motives of action to the people 
I represent. I will not, however, do as others do, say 
even more than I now say, and be compelled to lay af- 
terwards perhaps entirely a different speech before the 
people. 

My purpose, Mr. President, was not to retort on the 
Senators from Delaware and Maine, language in kind. 
Humble as I am, I would not do it if I could; and my 
associations in life have not been of that polished castas 
to enable me to do it if I would. The bandying of ep- 
ithets,the reproaches for being what God and nature have 
made iis, never was and never shall be, in any legisla- 
tive body, any part of my business. 

Both of the Senators have done me injustice when they 
impute to me an unprovoked attack npon the profession 
of the law, to which profession the Senator from Maine 
claims to be an ornament — " a burning and shining 
light." I spoke of that profession in terms of respect; 
there are many gentlemen belonging to it who have been 
and who continue to be n)y friends. The t?enators know 
full well that printers and editors have b^en singled out 
for attack repeatedly in this body; that they commenc- 
ed the onset in this debate. I repelled the onset by say- 
ing that there were men of another profession as ob- 
noxious to censure (if censure was due any where) as 
the printers and editors of newspapers. For stating 
what was fact, forty-three of forty-eight gentlemen are 
appealed to, that they may arise in judgment against 
jjie. Of liiese forty-three gentlemen I will believe there 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 119 

is at least a moiety who will not assume, that purity, 
and integrity, and talent, and intelligence, belong exclu- 
sively to any one class of men, or that there is in this 
free country any class whose privileges are superior to 
all othera. " Taunts upon the profession" I deny hav- 
ing made. 1 might have said there are lawyers who are 
very stupid, and illiterate, and ignorant. I might have 
said there are others who are profligate and depraved — 
others who are supercilious and abusive; — and I could 
have cited the authority of lawyers themselves to prove 
as much as this. But 1 offered no such provocation to 
that respectable profession. 

I will only say in answer to the Senator from Dela- 
ware, that if he charges me as being one of a firm in 
the State of New-Hampshire, who receive in profits 
from a contract for printing for the Post Office De- 
partment, §3000 per annum, the charge is not true. — 
I do not now, I never did belong to any firm, that ever 
had a contract of the kind. Nor is there, to my 
knowledge, any firm in that State that ever hag receiv- 
ed to the amount of one thousand dollars on any such 
contract. 

Further I will say, that if he charges on me the re- 
moval of fifty Postmasters in New-Hampshire, that is 
also equally untrue. The changes that have been 
made in New-Hampshire, were made in consequence 
of petitions that were presented by the citizens inter- 
ested — they were made, as I believe, for good and suf- 
ficient cause; and a vast majority of the people of that 
State sustain the administration which made those 
changes. 

Further — if the Senator intended to say that I am a 
contractor under the Post Office Department for any a- 
mount, that is not true, I have been concerned in no 
mail contract since the commencement of the present 
administration. 

Further still — if the Senator intended to say that any 
connexion of mine, by birth or marriage, has been placed 
in any office by the present administration, on my peti- 



120 BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. 

tion or request made either to the President or a head of 
any Department, this also is not true. 

If I am correctly informed, one of the gentlemen 
named as a connexion of mine, and the fearful respon- 
sibibility of whose appointment is thrown upon me, re- 
ceived that appointment through the especial interference 
of the Senator from Maine, during the administration of 
Mr. Monroe; and of this I believe the papers at the 
'Treasury would furnish evidence. 

The Senator from Maine, as if the word of one were 
not sufficient, has also reiterated these and other allega- 
tions. He described a person as having had for years 
mail contracts to the amount of thirty thousand dollars 
annually, as being a contractor for a large section of 
country, and as having farmed out the contracts to the 
disadvantage and injury of those who performed the 
labor. If he intended me by his description, I must 
say that the statement is as void of truth as was the 
statement and charges against the Post Office Depart- 
ment, read from the newspaper printed in the State of 
Maine, since the commencement of this debate. For 
eighteen years that I was a contractor under the admin- 
istrations of Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe, and Mr. Adams, 
those contracts, according to the best of my recellec- 
tion, never exceeded in amountinany one year, the sum 
of three thousand dollars; and on these contracts I never 
received as my commission for risque and responsibility 
exceeding five per cent. Since January 1, 1829, 1 have 
been interested in no contract. 

If the Senator from Maine intended the Senate to 
understand that I ever called on the President of the 
United States, to ask him either for the office which he 
tendered me, or any other office, or to remove any offi- 
cer that I might fill his place, that also is untrue. 

The concerns of an individual, I am well aware, ought 
not here to be introduced. But since, without provoca- 
tion, my motives in supporting this bill as it is, have 
been impeached, my integrity questioned, my good name 
blackened and defamed, I feel bound to repel, in the 
same public manner they were made, accusations whieh 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 121 

have neither truth nor the semblance of truth for their 
foundation. 

The Senator from Maine, since the comniencen^ent of 
the present session, has read to the Senate njany extracts 
from newspapers. He will permit me to read a few 
lines, they are from a newspaper printed in his own 
county. The article I would read was pointed out to 
him the other day as he passed my seat, and he said it 
was right; meaning I presume, that the Editor of the pa- 
per [the Saco Democrat] had truly represented the case. 
Here it is. 

" We have frequently had occasion to speak of the extreme mod- 
esty of our t-enator in Conitress the honorable. John Holmes. This 
is a quality possessed by him in an eminent degree, and can be 
equalled only by his admirable consistency. The latest display of 
our Senator's nuidcstij is to be found in a letter of his, written under 
a Washington date of Feb. 4, In alluding to his reply to a speech 
of Mr. Ilill, our modest Senator says : 

" After Mr. Hillhad finished readme- his piece, which cost the 
" Senate near three hours of their time, Mr. Holmes rose and in 
" less than ten minutes gave th.e fellow such a scourging as he nev- 
" er had before. Upham's chastisement was a flea-bite t« it. 

" As Mr. Holmes wa^ very deliberately administering the chas- 
" tisement, a Senator turned to Mr. Dickerson — ' Governor,' said 
"he, ' is this shaving or 6^t«7w« J- ? ' Dickerson replied, 'By the 
" Lord it is skinning.'' " 

" What a great pity it is that Mr. Ilohnes cailnot procure some 
competent person to blow the trumpet for him. How awfully Mr. 
Hill must have felt when Mr. Holmes was ' putting it oir.' How 
very strange that ' not a creature present entertained the least sym- 
pathy for him." 

If the Senator calls his former attempt skinning what 
will he denominate his last attack ? Is it any thing less 
than assault and battery, with intent to murder ? I will 
assure the gentleman, that in that section of the country 
where both of us are best known, his warlike instru- 
ments, his tomahawk and scalping knife, are both point- 
less and edgeless. His weapons, in that region, like the 
muskets of Hudibras, 

" When aimed at duck or plover, 
Bear wide and kick their owner over." 

Mr. Hiil returned from this long and busy ses- 
11 



122 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAE HILL. 

sion of Congress, with a consciousness that he 
had endeavored in all things to do his duty ; that 
he had not intentionally swerved from his princi- 
ples. His constituents were well pleased with 
his course, and with the exertions which he had 
made to support those principles that brought 
the administration into power ; and on his return, 
arrangements were made for giving him some 
public demonstration of their respect for his char- 
acter and services. He met his friends at a pub- 
lic dinner in Concord, in August, and in a lengthy 
speech, reviewed with a masterly hand the pro- 
ceedings, the apparent motives and the proposed 
measures of the opposition in Congress. So ma- 
ny severe truths were contained in this produc- 
tion, as to form a compound exceedingly unpal- 
atable to those who felt themselves implicated 
in his denunciations. For this speech,"^ the fed- 
eral party declared that he deserved expulsion 
from the Senate. 

At the short session of 1833-4, Mr. HilPs 
principal effort in the Senate, was a lengthy speech 
upon Mr. Clay's Land Bill, delivered on the 22d 
Jan. 1834. We have placed some extracts else- 
where,! which, we think, will repay a perusal by 
the information which they contain of the motives 
of Mr. Hill and the just views which he enter- 
tained of the evil consequences which must ne- 
cessarily ensue from a measure like the one pro- 
posed. 

Our venerable President, in the summer of 



* See Appendix H. 
t See Appendix I. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 123 

1833, took occasion to pay a visit to the eastern 
States, and learn something of the extent of their 
resources and the character of the inhabitants, 
from actual inspection. The patriot-soldier was 
every where received with demonstrations of the 
most profound respect. All parties, with com- 
mendable candor, and in a spirit of concession, 
joined their exertions to render the journey of 
the chief magistrate, pleasant and agreeable. The 
old hero expressed, in glowing terms, his gratifi- 
cation at the kind and flattering manner of his 
reception, and the variety of attentions which 
were shown him. He arrived at Concord during 
the session of the legislature, was received by 
that body in its official character and introduced 
separately to each of its members. He made 
the capital of New-Hampshire the limit of his 
journey. When he left, he was accompanied for 
a short distance, by Mr. Hill, who then, with Gov. 
Cass, Secretary of War, proceeded on a journey 
to the western country. He was gone a few 
weeks, visiting Montreal, Quebec, Detroit, &c. 
in his course. Many were the ingenious and fan- 
ciful conjectures that were made, of the canses,tho 
mystery of this wonderful step. It was shrewdly 
supposed that Mr, Hill intended by this act to de- 
clare himself in favor of Gov. Cass for the suc- 
cession to the Presidency, to assist him in his 
electioneering operations, and to assure Mr. Van 
Buren that it would be hopeless for him to seek 
aid at his hands. The only real motives of his 
tour were to gratify his curiosity and improve his 
health. Much of the territory, he had visited 
several years before, and he was now desirous of 



124 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

witnessing the wonderful improvements which 
liad, even in that short period, heen introduced 
into this fruitful region, and of examining the 
natural resources of the country, the vast growth 
of its population, the beauty of its numerous 
villages, the grandeur of its scenery, and its ca- 
pacity for further improvement. 

In the autumn, the Secretary of the Treasury 
caused the public deposites to be removed from 
the Bank of the United States, and placed in 
certain local banks in different parts of the Union. 
In the words of the President, this step was taken 
from a belief, that " it was established by unques- 
tionable proof that the Bank of the United States 
was converted into a permanent electioneering 
engine." The violent opposition made by the 
friends of the Bank, an institution whose exist- 
ence may be truly considered as the last hope 
and refuge of a domineering aristocracy, all will 
remember. Their alarm was natural, but the 
unprincipled means which they inmiediately a- 
dopted to frighten the people into a demand for 
the restoration of the deposites, must ever be con- 
sidered as worthy the severest censure. In the 
words of the message just quoted from, " at this 
time, the efforts of the Bank to control public o- 
pinion through the distresses of some and the 
fears of oth(!rs, are equally apparent, and, if pos- 
sible, more objectionable. 15y a curtailment of 
its acconnnodations more rapi<l than any emer- 
gency requires, and even while it retains specie 
to an almost unlimited amount in its vaults, it is 
attempting to produce great embarrassment in 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. V2o 

one portion of the community, while, through 
presses knoAvn to have been sustained by its mo- 
ney, it attempts, by unfounded alarms, to create 
a panic in all." The Secretary and the Presi- 
dent were sustained by the universal approval of 
the republican party. They, one and all, had 
long been convinced, not merely of the danger of 
such a powerful, I had almost written omnipotent, 
moneyed institution, in the very vitals of the re- 
public, and, with its branches in every city of the 
Union, exerting an unseen though none the less 
effective, influence over the whole community, 
through her moneyed men, but also of the abso- 
lute rottenness, the profligate management of the 
particular one then existing. Apparently secure 
in the consciousness of its power, the violations 
of its charter, of law and of the constitution, 
were hardly attempted to be concealed even by a 
resort to subterfuge. The doctrine was openly 
maintained and zealously defended, that the money 
of the stockholders and of the government, might 
lawfully and properly be converted to the vilest 
electioneering purposes, to a profligate abuse of 
the administration, to subsidizing a venal press 
and securing the aid of unprincipled editors, to 
the circulation of violent partizan pamphlets and 
to the injury of government by thwarting its 
plans, turning its property to base uses, forcibly 
seizing upon its funds, and dishonoring its drafts 
abroad. 

It was apparent to all that a stormy session 
was approaching. It was evident that an attempt 
was to be made to rouse the country into an at- 
titude of resistance to the measures of the gov- 
11* 



12S EIOGRAPilY OF ISAAC HILL. 

ernment, to create a panic, to cause real distress 
throughout the mercantile community, and to take 
advantage of the universal excitement thus pro- 
duced, to ensure the downfall of the administra- 
tion and the triumph of the Bank. The friends 
of democracy prepared themselves for the crisis. 
Mr. Hill left for Washington in November. In 
December, the Messa;^e of the President and the 
Report of the Secretary of the Treasury furnished 
materials for the commencement of the wordy 
struggle, which vi/as continued for several months, 
backed up by stereotyped panic memorials, the 
efforts of a bank-bought press, and the direct in- 
fluence of that unwieldy institution upon the fi- 
nancial operations and commercial credit of the 
maritime cities. Against these combined influ- 
ences, the republicans both in and out of Congress 
displayed an energy and firmness truly surprising. 
The House of Representatives remained true to 
their principles and their President, while the 
majority of the Senate, by their profligate conduct, 
have rendered that branch of the government an 
object of suspicion in the eyes of the people, who 
cannot but feel that it is a body far too independ- 
ent of their will ; of the only real, natural source 
of authority. 

New-Hampshire was perhaps as little affected 
by the artificial excitement of this memorable 
period as any other State in the Union. She had 
too much confidence in the wisdom and fidelity of 
her delegated servants to believe them less de- 
sirous to promote their prosperity and the hap- 
piness of the whole country, than a soulless mon- 
eyed corporation. By previous concert and 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 127 

considerable exertion, a panic memorial, signed 
by the federalists of Portsmouth, was indeed 
procured, and was presented to the Senate in due 
form by the recreant son of New-Hampshire who 
was misrepresenting her in the councils of the 
nation. Mr. Hill had received information of the 
character of this memorial, the manner of getting 
it up and the standing of the signers, and after 
Mr. Bell had finished his doleful picture of the 
distress of Portsmouth as evinced in the state- 
ments of this memorial, he arose, told what he 
knew of it, exposed its true character, and made 
known so many unpleasant, yet undeniable truths, 
that Mr. Bell did not think it prudent to venture 
any reply. 

On the third and fourth of March, Mr. Hill deliv- 
ered in the Senate, an exposition of his views at 
length, on this all-important subject. The docu- 
ment is one of great interest, and carries upon 
its face evidence of great research and a thor- 
ough examination. That perseverance, which 
forms so valuable and prominent a trait in the 
character of Mr. Hill, was never more strikingly 
developed than in the acts of his public life. He 
gave no subject half his mind, or a divided atten- 
tion. Upon whatever topic he directed his in- 
vestigations, he probed it to the bottom and ex- 
amined it in all its bearings. His speech upon 
the removal of the deposites is a striking illus- 
tration of this statement. It takes up the subject 
in every light in which it could be viewed or in 
which it had been considered ; it gives every part 
its proper prominence, and weighs thorougiily 
every objection. We have placed a few extracts 
from this speech, which are not necessarily con- 



128 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

nected with any part of the lengthy argument, in 
the appendix. One of them will be found to give 
a complete statement of the difficulty with the 
Portsmouth Bank in 1829, which Daniel Webster 
l^as declared to have been the commencement of 
the feud with the Bank, and in which Mr. Hill 
was concerned,''^ 

Mr Hill remained stedfast throughout all the 
extraordinary movements which characterized this 
session. He never deserted his post in the Sen- 
ate, but was willing to incur all the responsibility 
that could attach to a conscientious vote. He 
opposed the unconstitutional impeachment of the 
President and sided with his republican friends in 
denouncing such an unjustifiable encroachment 
upon the rights of the Executive. 

On the eleventh of June, he made a speech 
upon the Post Office, another subject which the 
opposition in the Senate were peculiarly desirous 
of agitating, so as to increase to the highest pitch, 
the excitement of the public mind, and if possi- 
ble, produce a general feeling against the admin- 
istration. The motion was by Mr. Southard, at 
that time acting in direct and acknowledged op- 
position to the feelings and wishes of his constit- 
uents, to print thirty thousand copies of the vio- 
lent party Report of the Committee on the Post 
Office and Post Roads. Mr. Hill's brief speech 
viras intended to expose some of the misstatements 
made in that report, many of which arose from the 
Ignorance of the committee respecting the routine 
of duties connected with the department \«lfose 



* See Appendix K. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 129 

iniquities they had endeavored to expose, and not 
a few of which appeared intentionally exaggera- 
ted and colored so as to deceive the community 
and excite unfounded prejudices against the de- 
partment. Mr. Uill was well fitted, from his long 
connection with the department as a mail con- 
tractor, to explain many facts that had appeared 
to the committee to involve some mysterious and 
suspicions circumstances.* 

Early in the session of the Nevv-llampshire 
Legislature, resolutions were almost unanimously 
passed, approving in the most decided yet res- 
pectful laaguage, the course which the adminis- 
tration had adopted with regard to the IJank and 
the public deposites, and deprecating the artificial 
panic which had been excited for the worst of 
purposes. These resolutions, it became Mr. Hill's 
duty to present to the Senate, and however the 
majority of that body may have affected to des- 
pise them, they spoke in freemen's language, such 
tones as the aristocracy of every age and nation 
have been unvv'illing to listen to. Mr. Hill pre- 
faced them by appropriate remarks concerning 
t!i8' conduct and views of the State w hich he 
represented, in relation to the great question of 
the removal of the deposites. t We quote his 
own words in relation to the reception of tiiese 
resolutions : 

'* A very good sample of the- prevailing disposition 
of a majority of the United States Senate is to be found 
in their treatment of the resolutions recently passed iu 

*See Appendix L. 
t See Appendix M. 



130 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

the Legislature of New-Hampshire, in the Senate by a 
unanimous vote, and in the House of Representatives 
by a vote of nearly three to one. Under a pretence 
that tlieir presentation was irregular and unprecedented, 
these resolutions were laid upon the table, as the great- 
est indignity with which they could be treated. The 
objection to receiving them was made by a Senator from 
Massachusetts, (Mr. Webster,) who knew, or ought to 
have known, that the resolutions of States officially for- 
warded to Senators, and instructing them in any point 
of legislative duty, are presented as a matter of course. 
In making a motion afterwards to take up these resolu- 
tions for the purpose of giving them the usual direction 
of reference, the representatative of New-Hampshire 
was in a manner unprecedented, stopped from offering 
his reasons why the resolutions ought to be received, and 
from showing that the State of Massachusetts among 
others, had at this very session presented resolutions 
under precisely similar circumstances. 

The Senate would not even receive these resolutions. 
It could not be urged that their language was indecorous 
— therefore this was not offered as an objection. The 
Senate had before, (to use the becoming language of a 
great favorite of the majority, Mr. Poindexter,) "kick- 
ed out of the House" sundry resolutions and proceedings 
of the citizens of York county, Pennsylvania — they had 
also refusedxiivil treatment to sundry resolutions from 
Ohio, and they had graciously deigned to tread upon the 
resolutions passed by the largest State convention that 
ever met in New-Jersey. But to the resolutions of a 
Legislature — to the State of New-Hampshire alone have 
they offered a similar indignity. 

The legislature of a State are peculiarly the immedi- 
ate constituents of the Senators in Congress from that 
State; every indication of the sentiments of a Legislature 
— every instruction of a Legislature to its Senators in 
(iipngress^ ought to be received and respectfully treated 
iJ^^he Senate. It is believed that this is the first instance 
in which the Senate of the United States has refused to 
receive and consider the opinions and instructions of any 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 131 

Legislature. The indigity in this case is not to the Sen- 
ator who presented, but to the Legislature which passed 
these resolutions; the contempt is directed to a Sovereign 
State, and every State regarding its rights, should con- 
sider itself attacked in the indignity offered to the Legis- 
lature of New-Hampshire." 

Mr. Hill gave a very just and excellent view of 
the conduct and motives of the opposition in Con- 
gress, the results which they expected to produce, 
and the objects they were endeavoring to obtain, 
in the form of a letter to the republicans of Concord 
who had met to celebrate the anniversary of Amer- 
icanlndependence. We have placed some extracts 
in the appendix.* During' this long and laborious 
session, Mr. Hill, though far from enjoying his 
usual state of health, with the exception of a sin- 
gle day that he was confined to his room, had not 
been, at the time of writing his letter, absent for 
a half hour consecutively from his seat in the 
Senate, when in session ; nor did there occur a 
single instance of the Ayes and Noes being taken, 
when his name does not appear registered among 
them. " Unpleasant," he says, "' as it has been 
to stay here under the daily reproaclites and con- 
tumely of an accidental majority, and that major- 
ity notoriously misrepresenting the will of a vast 
majority of the people of the United States, I 
nevertheless consider it my duty to stand at my 
post to the last hour of the last day of the ses- 
sion." Mr. Hill returned home at the close of 
the session, with a constitution somewhat enfee- 
bled by so continued attendance upon the duties 



See Appendix N. 



132 BIOGRArflY OF ISAAC HILL. 

of his oliice, and by his arduous and untiring- ex- 
ertions during a period of more than seven 
months, part of it in the heat of a climate to 
■which he had never been accustomed. 

On the 22d of October, he was complimented 
with a public dinner, given him at Haverhill in 
this State, where his friends in Grafton county had 
an opportunity of taking him by the hand and en- 
couraging- him in the course which he had orig- 
inally adopted, and in which he had thus far 
continued. The following sentiment having been 
offered : 

"Our Guest, the Ho^r. Isaac Hill, — If there i» 
any merit in contending fearlessly, ably, zealously, uni- 
formly and successfully in the cause of democracy and 
for the rights of the people, he has that merit and the 
people will reward him for it" — 

Mr. Hill, for once at least, ventured to return 
an extemporaneous reply. He complimented the 
citizens of Grafton county, alluded to their old 
leaders in the cause of republicanism, and to the 
progress of that cause among them, spoke par- 
ticularly of the late whig dinner given to Samuel 
Bell in Concord, where the character of that 
worthy was backed up by the testimony of Dan- 
iel Webster and John Holmes, and handled the 
remarks of those gentlemen without gloves. We 
have placed a few brief extracts in another part 
of this volume.* Two days after, he joined his 
republican friends in Concord, at a festival hasti- 
ly prepared, in honor of the splendid victories 



See Appendix O 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 133 

the (lemocraiic party had obtained at recent elec- 
tions. 

At the late brief session of Congress, Mr. Hill 
was equally active and untiring in his exertions 
in the cause of republicanism, and the tri- 
umph of those principles on which our govern- 
ment was founded. At its commencement, an 
attempt was made by the unprincipled majority 
in the Senate to browbeat him, to insult him, and 
to degrade him in the eyes of the American 
people. This combination of a few individuals, 
who have for several years, dared to usurp author- 
ity, at variance with the very spirit of our insti- 
tutions, to disobey and set at nought the will of 
those from whom they had received their power, 
had, contrary to custom, at the previous session, 
taken from their presiding officer the right of ap- 
pointing their committees, that they might give 
their machinations against the administration and 
against the republican cause, the greater effect. 
They had long looked with an eye of jealousy 
upon Mr. Hill, and very naturally hated to consort 
upon terras of equality with an intelligent, self- 
taught mechanic, Avho had done much to expose 
and defeat their self-aggrandizing projects, who 
was never weary in the service of the republic, 
and never backward in declaring his views upon 
any subject of national concern and repelling ev- 
ery base allegation that was brought against him. 
They now, by a puerile movement, manifested 
the malignity of their feelings towards Mr. Hill, 
by excluding him from the committees of that 
body, over which they had unfairly acquired a 
temporary control. This measure, the offsj^ing, 

12 • ^Iw 



134 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

as one cannot but tliink, of some insignificant 
mind, resembling^ the pettish folly of a vexed 
vschoolboy, had not the effect which its prime 
movers had wished. Mr. Hill remained firm and 
undaunted at his post ; he knew the men with 
whom had to deal; he knew that many of them 
had violated the most solemn pleges made in the 
most solemn manner and even then holdino- their 
seats by such an undesirable tenure as the letter 
of the Constitution, in direct opposition to its 
spirit, could give them ; and he had prepared 
himself to witness without astonishment, any and 
every act of malignity, folly or extravagance. — 
There are those whose censure confers honor, and 
whose commendation must ever bring with it, 
suspicion. Mr. Hill never wished for the time, 
when he should be constrained to say, ' Lord, what 
have I done, that mine enemies should praise 
me ! ' 

The session of Congress vi^as short and not 
distinguished by any peculiar measure or distinc- 
tive system of operations. The panic had subsi- 
ded ; the hollow-hearted politicians who had pro- 
duced it and who had tried to effect not merely a 
'' bloodless revolution,' had been fairly met and 
gallantly defeated ; the Bank was given up for 
lost, and its advocates manifested a desire to free 
themselves of any imputation of peculiar anxiety 
for the renewal of its charter. 'J'he country was 
in a state of universal prosperity, the national 
debt was liquidated, and every thing, save the 
dissensions of political partizans, hunters for of- 
fice and intriguers for power, was quiet. The 
onlv^uestion of any moment that required the 



oniu^i 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 135 

decision of Congress was the subject of indem- 
nifyinor the citizens of the Union for losses sus- 
tained by French spoliations prior to the year 
1800. These claims had never been considered 
of great value ; yet self-interest had prompted to 
their repeated renewal. It was contended that 
our government, having by treaty with France, 
liquidated all claims which the citizens of either 
nation might have on those of the other, had, by 
that act, in effect assumed upon herself the ob- 
ligation to remunerate, for the losses which they 
had sustained, her own citizens, who had been 
precluded from seeking direct restitution of those 
who had injured them. Mr. Hill could not con- 
sider these claims founded in just^fee, aad his 
principles of strict economy in national expendi- 
tures would not permit him to support any appro- 
priation which law and equity did not imperiously 
demand. He gave his views in a speech of some 
length, which comprises a clear and lucid history 
of the events which preceded and followed the 
partial war with France, the measures which had 
been from time to time adopted to secure the pay- 
ment of the claims in question, and liis own rea- 
sons for deciding against their justice. The latter 
are summed up as follows : 

1. That a state of war between France and the Uni- 
ted States effectually put an end to all obligation by 
France to make restitution for captures and spoliations 
beyond what they particularly specified in the treaty 
of September 20, 1800. 

2. That the United States, after pressing France |"or 
a restitution of those claim* so long as they could do it 
without a sacrifice of other paramount public and pri- 



136 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

vate interests, assumed no responsibility for their pay- 
ment by consenting to press those peculiar claims no 
further. 

3. That if the fact of the existence of war and the 
abrogation of prior treaties shall be denied, still the 
United States, having tirst violated mo previous treaty, 
vi^ere under no obligation to France and owed her 
nothingf for such infraction. 

4. That as the United States owed nothing to France, 
so the claimants are entitled to no compensation from 
the United States for anj' alleged claims on France. 

Mr. Hill had also an opportunity of evincing 
the sincerity of his professions in favor of re- 
trenchment and economy, by opposing a proposi- 
tion made in the true spirit of the supporters of 
John Quincy Adams' administration, to lay out 
forty thousand dollars for pictures to ornament 
the President's house. On the eighth of Janua- 
ary, he attended the republican celebration of that 
memorable anniversary of the victory at New- 
Orleans, and took occasion to evince the inde- 
pendence of his character by toasting the late 
lamented citizen and worthy, amiable man, Will- 
iam T. Barry, who was then the recipient of the 
wholesale slanders of a venal press. 

In February, he made a speech upon a motion 
to repeal the law limiting the terms of certain 
officers. In this production he gave a familiar 
detail of his views respecting the true principle 
of appointments and removals from office, and 
the inconsistencies of the opposition in relation to 
the subject.'^' 

yVt the legislative convention in June last, Mr. 

^ See Appendix P. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 13? 

Hill received the republican nomination for the 
Chief Magistracy of the State. Notwithstand- 
ing all the insinuations which have been made to 
the contrary", this honor was alike unexpected 
and unsolicited. He has accepted the nomina- 
tion agreeably to the principles on which he has 
always acted, to hold himself at all times ready 
for the disposal of that people whom he has so 
lonsr served. 



We have thus completed our survey of the 
political hi&tory of Mr, Hill. In doing tliis, we 
have endeavored to be as brief as our subject 
would permit, only dwelling upon the more im- 
portant points, and passing over or slighly touch- 
ing upon facts of inferior consequence. We 
have endeavored, in all our statements, to present 
the plain, iinornamented truth. We have avoid- 
ed, as far as possibly consists with the biography 
of a New-England politician, every thing- savor- 
ing of offensive personality ; we have even sup- 
pressed some facts and names, which it might 
have demanded no great license to consider as 
public property, and which might have added 
piquancy to our narrative, among our readers in 
New-Hampshire. In giving a slight sketch of 
partizan struggles and the progress of democratic 
principles in this State, we could not consider it 
a part of our plan to gratify a morbid curiosity 
by dragging before the public the names of petty 
individuals, who for a temporary period, exerted 
some influence in the politics of the State, and 
whose acts, if mentioned, we should .have been 
12* 



138 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

forced to disapprove. We have made free only 
with the names, conduct and sentiments of can- 
didates for high office, and conductors of public 
prints. 

It will be remarked that we have not consider- 
ed it incumbent on us to notice at length, for the 
purpose of refuting, every petty slander which 
has, from time to time, been uttered against Mr. 
Hill. Such stale trash has been answered with 
sufficient particularity in the journals of the day, 
and should be suffered to remain in the forgetful- 
ness to which the good sense of the community 
has at length consigned it. We have noticed 
only such objections against the character of our 
subject as have been mistakenly adopted and 
urged by reasonable men, and which have had 
some weight abroad. We are liberal enough to 
consider the larger portion of our opponents as 
honest in their opinions and prejudices ; either 
themselves deceived into the adoption of the sen- 
timents which they advocate, or else sincerely be- 
lieving and candidly maintaining their aristocratic 
principles, knowing to what they will lead, if car- 
ried out to the extent which they contemplate, 
and preferring every evil which might flow from 
a government of a monied oligarchy, to what they 
consider the ungovernable passions of a govern- 
ing people. The opinions of such men as these, 
we respect ; and have hence endeavored to combat 
them, so far as they have prompted opposition to 
the individual whose public life it has been our 
purpose to commemorate. But there are not a 
few among our opponents, and we fear they have 
been too generally permitted to take the station 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 139 

of leaders in their ranks, who, destitute of every 
governing principle save a firm determination to 
gain authority for themselves at the expense of 
the party they oppose, no matter by what means, 
have taken every occasion falsely and meanly to 
slander and abuse the character of those who 
have so often frustrated their plans. The state- 
ments of these men we have seldom noticed 

Knowing that they have not been made in good 
faith, but only through an unprincipled determin- 
ation that they would conquer and debase their 
enemy, we have supposed it impossible to make 
them acknowledge their error, or change the 
system of operations they have adopted. 

Sooner an aged, stubborn oak may bend, 
And the firm, flinty rock to pieces rend ; 
Sooner shall polish'd marble take the seal. 
Or supple quills engrave elastic steel, 

than any attempt at rational argument, convince 
or affect wilfully unreasonable men. Moreover, 
we should only dirt our own fingers, by meddling 
with such characters. The republican editors in 
this State would do well to adopt more generally, 
the principle of perfect silence with regard to 
those statements, which, in consideration of the 
sources from which they originate, they know 
can have no injurious effects. When the char- 
acter of our opponent is so base and his reputa- 
tion so desperate that there is no danger of his 
representations being for a moment received by 
the respectable portion of the community, should 
vvc, by deigning to give battle to his doctrines, 
descend to his level, we should afford no assist- 



140 B106RAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

ance to our causey but should come off the field, 
not conquered by argument, but overcome by the 
weight of ribaldry and slander to which we must 
have been exposed. There are many persons so 
degraded and so vile, that we belittle ourselves 
by condescending to notice their conduct and 
their statements, and we expose ourselves to con- 
tamination. The man, for instance, who can 
coolly, in the full possession of all his faculties, 
and with the wondrous works of the God of Na- 
ture displayed before his eyes, obstinately persist 
in denying the existence of a Supreme Being, 
and in uttering outrageous and disgusting blasphe- 
mies against his Holy Name, is to he avoided, not 
met ; is to be left alone to live and to die in his 
own corruption. In the political world, there are 
those so buried in the mud and mire of falsehood 
and degrading subserviency, that it is impossible 
to make them feel the truth, and if we attempt 
to thrust it to them, we only defile ourselves with 
the black abominations by which they are sur- 
rounded. A clergyman once, on his return 
home from a neighboring parish, whither he had 
been summoned to fill the sacred desk, in the 
eVi^ening, alone and on horseback, was much start- 
led by the sudden terror of the beast which he 
rode and by the shadowy outlines of some half- 
seen object moving in the bushes. The holy man 
carried no carnal weapons ; he had before him a 
large Bible, and without reflection, converted 
the sacred book into a missile and in his trep- 
idation, hurled the volume at his supposed en- 
emy. The unpleasant consequences which 
•nsued we will not here detail ; suffice it to say, 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 141 

however, that the clerg-yman resolved henceforth 
never to throw the JVord of God at a skunk! — 
We leave the application of the story in the 
hands of the reader, and return to our subject. 

It has been, by a strange and unprincipled per- 
version of facts, made a subject of grave reproach 
against Mr. Hill that he is a wealthy man. The 
moral obliquity of that man's heart, who, knowing 
the history of Mr. Hill's past life, could raise this 
as an objection against his character, can only be 
equalled by the folly of those who presume to 
echo the charge, entirely ignorant of the attend- 
ing circumstances. Perhaps there are not want- 
ing those, who prefer the claims of a profligate 
son of dissipation, who has expended a noble pat- 
rimony in idleness and luxury, to the credit which 
judicious men will unite in bestowing upon hon- 
est, successful industry and enterprize. Mr. Hill 
began life, destitute of every thing save a good 
name, earned by a long and faithful service in 
the profession of his choice. He commenced a- 
midst obstacles the most discouraging, and when 
every thing conspired to render success improb- 
able. Yet, he was fortunate ; his publication 
was found to be ably conducted, and though mod- 
est in its claims upon the public attention, and 
without any herald to trumpet its excellencies, its 
patronage gradually, steadily and constantly in- 
creased. In a very few years after Mr. Hill's 
first establishing himself in Concord, he found 
himself in the regular receipt of small yet con- 
stant gains, and in a fair way, by a life of indus- 
try and personal labor, to secure for his exertions, 
an honorable competence. In addition to his 



142 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

newspaper, he early opened a bookstore, and con- 
tinued in the business, to his own pecuniary ad- 
vantage, till very recently, and until, from a hum- 
ble beginning, his business was gradually extended 
so as to render his establishment the most exten- 
sive in the State. 

He was a mail contractor twenty years, under 
the administrations of Madison, Monroe and Ad- 
ams, closing all his contracts in the fall of 1828, 
during his visit to Washington. The fact of his 
having been a contractor has often been warped 
or attempted to be warped to his prejudice ; his 
only object was to add to his pecuniary posses- 
sions. His paper was very early selected as a 
channel of communication for the laws of the 
State and of the United States ; a species of pat- 
ronage which may be considered rather in the 
light of a testimony to the standing and circula- 
tion of the papers selected, than as an object of 
great moment to a speculator. The Patriot, as 
many of our readers will remember, for a long 
series of years, bore upon its title, ' Published by 
Isaac Hill, printer for the State and printer for 
the peojde,' The petty management by which 
partizan officers deprived him of his claim to the 
first of these professions, has been elsewhere de- 
tailed. 

Mr. Hill was a member and often one of the 
fiscal officers of many associations of wealth and 
enterprise. He was for a long time, a Director 
of the Concord and Boston Union Boating Com- 
pany ; was a Director of the Merrimack County 
Bank, and for a space of time President of the 
board, A very considerable portion of his capital 



* BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC H[LL. 143 

has been embarked in a manufacturing- establish- 
ment in a neighboring town. Mr. Hill has also 
acquired both reputation and property by his en- 
terprise and success in the publishing business, 
in which lie has surpassed all his country rivals. 
He published and circulated many standard works 
of real merit and sterHng worth. The schools of 
New-England have been indebted to his press 
for many of the most valuable publications for 
the instruction and improvement of youth. We 
may be pardoned for specifying two works, which 
have as yet lost little of tlieir former reputation, 
Blake's Historical Reader, and Tytler's Elements 
of History. Of both these books, Mr. Hill has 
printed many thousand copies, and made to the 
last, an addition by his own hand which gives it, 
in this country, its principal value, — a condensed 
history of America and the world, continued to a 
Lite date. 

Such have been the means, by which Mr. Hill 
has arrived at the honorable competence which 
he now enjoys. Every man of common honesty 
or moral principle, must rejoice that his honorable 
exertions, his perseverance, his industry and self- 
denial have met with their reward. To young 
men of enterprise, however humble their birth, or 
low their fortunes, there is in this country no ob- 
stacle to the attainme'nt of happiness, of comfort, 
of opulence. Those sons of fortune, who have 
been, from their very cradle, nursed in the lap of 
luxury ; who have never known what it is to 
grapple with adversity ; who have have found 
every wish anticipated, and every want supplied, 
almost before it was experienced, however for a 



144 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL, 

time they may have reason to congratulate them- 
selves upon their happy lot, and may thank their 
God that they are not as this mechanic, will gen- 
erally be found, in their race through life, left far 
behind upon the course, outstripped by those 
whose experience and whose training have pre- 
pared them, by their very severity, for a certain 
victory. They who have long struggled against 
the frowns of fate ; who have familiarly conversed 
with sorrow ; who have been intimate with woe ; 
who have been forced to surmount the most ter- 
rific and apparently invincible obstacles ; who 
have known what it is to grap[)le with poverty, 
who have met the ghostly forms of want and bat- 
tled thoii) face to face ; who have been the broth- 
ers of misery and have shaken hands with misfor- 
tune — these are the men who alone can have all 
the mighty, the resistless energies of the soul 
called into full operation, and the powers of the 
intellect roused to their highest activity ; who 
have dressed themselves in the panoply of univer- 
sal power and are armed, equipped and fitted to 
conquer in every undertaking which demands 
severity of effort and long and patient endurance. 

^.\ If mis/ortune comes, she brings along 
The bravest virtues; and so many great. 
Illustrious spirits have conversed with woe. 
Have in her school been taught, as are enough 
To consecrate distress and make ambition 
E'en wish the frown beyond the smile of fortune. 

Mr. Hill's property has never been acquired 
by acts of injustice or preserved and accumulated 
by avarice and meanness. His purse is ever open 



BIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC liiLL, 145 

to the claims of individuals or the public. In 
public spirit, no man surpasses him — in love of 
his country, in honest pride in our free institu- 
tions, in ardent zeal for the promotion of the true 
interests of the nation, in all that constitutes pure 
patriotism, he is second to none. All his exer- 
tions have been directed for the public good. — 
If self-interest had been the only motive of his 
action, he would not have been found almost 
alone in opposition to a powerful and overwhel- 
ming" dynasty in 1809. If reputation, wealth or 
favor had been superior to his love of what he 
conceived to be his country's true interests, he 
would have arrayed himself, at an age when no 
charge of inconsistency or violation of his prin- 
ciples could have been raised against him, upon 
the side of the dominant faction. In support of 
wealth or power, his talents must soon have ren- 
dered him conspicuous, and must have brought 
him notice and patronage. But he preferred the 
service of the people, to becoming the subservi- 
ent though petted instrument of a factious aris- 
tocracy. 

Mr. Hill has ever taken an all-absorbing inter- 
est in the welfare, the prosperity, — in whatever 
concerns the Slate of his adoption. It is here 
where his strongest affections, where every asso- 
ciation that can be dear to his feelings, are con- 
centrated. To the fame of the sons of New- 
Hampshire, he is ever anxious to do justice, as 
in some measure himself a participator ; 
to the citizens of the same State, he omits no 
opportunity of referring his own happiness 
and prosperitv. He is an excellent citizen ; his 
13 



146 BIOGPwAPHY or ISAAC HILL, 

fellow townsmen will all join, witliout any dis- 
tinction of party, in attesting- to his liberal spirit ; 
no enterprize, having for its object the improve- 
ment of the town or the State in which he re- 
sidesj.ever wants his aid. The same love of 
country and desire for its prosperity had their ef- 
fect in inducing the zealous support which he 
afforded to the administration of Madison during 
the trying period of the war. lie believed an 
appeal to arms the only means of sustaining her 
honor, asserting and vindicating the rights of her 
insulted seamen, and restoring her violated com- 
merce to its pristine activity. In the promotion 
of every local object of improvement, he has 
been a zealous participator. He was active in 
securing the present beautiful location of our 
noble State House ; has ever been in favor of 
encouraging our own manufactories, and of facil- 
itating the progress of agricultural enterprize 
among our citizens. He has taken part in many 
societies for the improvement of the art of hus- 
bandry, believing no class of citizens so general- 
ly intelligent, so naturally virtuous, so truly inde- 
pendent, and so really free from the vices that 
corrupt and the habits that degrade civilized so- 
ciety, as is tlie industrious farmer, who, ' receiving 
his easy food from nature's hand,* promotes his 
own happiness and the equanimity of his disposi- 
tion by his unremitted toil. 

The sire of gods and men, v»'ith hard decrees. 
Forbids our plenty to be bonnlit with ease. 
Himself invented fust the shiny share, 
And whetted human industry by care. 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 147 

Mr. Hill was for a long" time, a director of the 
Merrimack Agricultural Society. He has always 
advocated the improvement and multiplication of 
sheep, and, in the course of his legislative ex- 
perience, zealously opposed a proposition which 
was introduced to impose a tax upon that useful 
animal. He has been anxious to give at least a 
fair experiment to the advantages supposed to be 
derivable from the introduction of silk-culture in- 
to the country, and is a member of a company 
who are now actively engaged in furthering this 
object in Concord. He has been a director of 
the New-England Fire Insurance Company, and 
for several years, the President of the Mutual In- 
surance Company. 

Actuated by the same motives of disinterested 
patriotism, he has ah.vays opposed, by every 
means that he could command, the multiplication 
of petty monopolies, of banks and privileged cor- 
porations. The zealous advocate of reform, of 
retrenchment, and of rigid economy in public 
expenditures, he never carried his views so far 
as to oppose any appropriation which the hon- 
or or interests of the country, or the dictates of 
humanity might require. IJis exertions in support 
of the war and the consequent expense and in- 
creased responsibilities wliich he knew must en- 
sue, and his labors in behalf of the deaf-and- 
dumb will attest to the liberality and consistency 
of his views in these particulars. 

His exertions in favor of internal improvements 
have already been detailed. Before the close of the 
year 1809, there are found in the Patriot, articles 
from hispen,urging the citizens of New-Hampshire 



148 BIOGRAPHY OF I«AAC HILL. 

to nvail themselves of the unbounded resources 
which the State contains. We have elsewhere 
commemorated his efforts in behalf of the neur 
county of Merrimack, in improving the naviga- 
tion of the Connecticut, and in ascertaining the 
practicability of uniting the principal waters of 
the State by canal-communication. Both in his 
newspaper, and in the legislature, did he urge 
these things upon the consideration of his fellow- 
citizens. His views of the progress and benefits 
of internal improvement have kept pace with the 
progress of public feeling on the subject — the 
rapid, precocious advancement of practical knowl- 
edge. Those great enterprises which give a 
peculiar character to this time and this country, 
have met his hearty approval and co-operation. 
He took a prominent part in procuring the char- 
ter of the Concord and Lowell Rail Road from 
the last legislature, was a member of the original 
corporation and chairman of its first meeting. — 
At that meeting, he was likewise appointed chair- 
man of a committee to collect information as to 
the amount of travel and transport which will 
probably be turned into this channel of commu- 
nication. The stock of the company has been 
eagerly taken up, its operations will be energetic 
and effective, and the enterprise will be ahiiost 
sure to meet with entire success, and to add both 
honor and profit to our State. Mr. Hill is chair- 
man of the Board of Directors of this corpora- 
tion. 

His public spirit has not however been confiued 
to objects of practical improveinent merely. He 
has ever been distinguished for his zeal in pro™ 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC PULL. 149 

moling the cause of literature. Conscious of 
the vast benefit which our country must derive 
from a high standard of education, a correct and 
cultivated taste, a love of information, and above 
all else, the general, universal diffusion of 
knowledge among the people, he has ever given 
his name, his personal efforts, and all his influ- 
ence to the progress of sound and useful learning*, 
and to the elevation of the literary character of 
the State and country. In 1818, an association 
was formed, through the zeal of several of ouj:* 
most estimable citizens, but which has since been 
suffered to decline, called " The New-Hampshire 
United Society for the the more general diffusion 
of useful knowledge, and for the promotion of 
good morals." President William Allen, then at 
the head of Dartmouth University, was chosen its 
President, Hon. Thomas Whipple, jr. recording- 
secretary, and Hon. Isaac llill, corresponding- 
secretary. The prominent part which Mr. Hill 
took and the zeal vvliich he displayed in the un- 
fortunate college controversy, which for several 
years convulsed our State and which seemed like- 
ly to excite a baneful party spirit, an unlovely ma- 
lignity of feeling^ among our scientific, literary 
and professional men, were prompted by his ardor 
in behalf of what he considered to be the true 
interests of the State. A government ought 
never to look witii indifference upon the charac- 
ter or conduct of those, to whose care are to be 
entrusted its future citizens. It was the same 
desire to promote the public good and the public 
convenience, that induced Mr. Hill at a later pe- 
riod, to propose to the legislature of New-Hamp-- 
13* 



150 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

shire, the establishment of a new institution, un- 
connected with tlie college which now exists. It 
is probable that, at some future period, tiie in- 
crease of our population and the more general 
diffusion of knowledge may require such an ad- 
dition to our facilities for giving to the rising gen- 
eration a finished education. Mr. Hill is an ac- 
tive member of the board of trustees of the flour- 
ishing Literary Institution which has been lately 
established at the capital of the State. He is al- 
so a member of the New- Hampshire Historical 
Society ; one of the most respectable institutions 
of the kind in the country, and the value and im- 
portance of whose labors and publications are by 
no means properly appreciated by our citizens 
generally. Such societies may be called the 
gleaners of our past history, and the nurseries of 
the future ; and if there is any benefit to be de- 
rived from a knowled«;e of the principles and 
motives which actuated the early settler^, of our 
country, and the gradual steps by which they 
were developed and enlarged till they finally 
brought about our independence, then is it of im- 
portance to cherish and support associations, 
whose object is to collect and preserve such in- 
teresting and valuable memorials. 

Mr. Hill lias ever been proverbial for his gen- 
erosity. He is not merely liberal in the aid which 
he is ever ready to afford to objects of public 
importance and to measures whose success de- 
pends upon energeti'G and associated action. He 
is ever free and generous towards deserving in- 
dividuals. Many young men, now in highly res- 
pectable situatioHs in life and not a i'cw who have 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 151 

filled prominent places in society, are indebted 
for the first step in their honorable and profitable 
career, to the friendly, unostentatious aid of Mr. 
Hill. Remembering- the trials, amid which his 
own character was moulded, his youthful enter- 
prises formed, and the foundations of his present 
good fortune laid, Mr. H. has neither disposition 
or wish to withhold his sympathy and his assistance 
from young men of merit and promise who are 
laboring- under similar discouragernents. True, 
his bounties have not always met with that grate- 
ful return which a heart possessing the common 
sensibilities of man, would be anxious to render. 
Yet, the ingratitude of a few can never have the 
effect to lessen the natural inbred generosity of 
his disposition. 

Several of the first writers that New-Hamp- 
shire has produced, began their career of author- 
ship under tlie auspices of Mr. Hill, and were 
inducei^ to continue and to improve by the en- 
couragement of the same kind and judicious 
patron. The first pieces of his own that the late 
accomjdished gentleman and scholar, Nathaniel 
If. Carter, Esq., ever had the satisfaction of see- 
ing in print, graced the poet's corner qf tiie first 
volume of the Patriot. The young aspirant for 
the poet's laurels, was then a collegian. He was 
very diffident in regard to the merits of his pro- 
ductions, and passed them tlirough the hands of 
a kind and judicious friend belore he ventured to 
submit them even to so indulgent a critic as was 
Mr. Hill. We have seen an original letter to the 
friend referred to, which enclosed one of his ear- 
liest communications, and in which the young poet 



152 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

very modestly alludes to the honor conferred upon 
him by the insertion of his rhymes in so excellent 
a paper as that edited by Mr. Hill. Carter con- 
tinued his communications for the Patriot till the 
close of his residence at Hanover, as professor in 
the University. He was the author of several 
sarcastic pieces relative to the college controver- 
sy. The friend and companion of Carter's youth, 
the late talented and much lamented Haines, like- 
wise commenced his career as a political writer, 
in the columns of the Patriot. Some of the first 
and perhaps the most beautiful pieces from the 
pen of the elegant writer who now edits the La- 
dies' Magazine, were also prepared for the same 
paper, and published under the signature of ' Cor- 
nelia.' The learned and instructive essays of' A 
Layman,' and of ' Cincinnatus,' by Gov. Plumer, 
were originally communications for the New- 
Hampshire Patriot. 

It is no part of our design to expose to^ public 
gaze the private benefactions of the man ol 
whose character we are now treating. Above 
all, we would not invade the sanctity of family 
affairs, and tell the good deeds he has performed, 
in securing the happiness and prosperity of those 
endeared to him by .the ties of consanguinity. — 
There is a remark, by an accurate observer of 
human nature and a deep-read student in the his- 
tory of man, that " never was there a true patriot, 
who was not also, if a father, a kind one ; never 
was there a good citizen, who was not also an 
obedient and reverential son." In the relations 
which Mr. Hill has sustained towards his af- 
flicted oarcnts and their numerous. children, thi-f 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 153 

proposition has been fully verified. Mr. Hill 
married, in February 1814, the daughter of the 
late Capt. Richard Aver, long a worthy citizen 
of Concord. By this marriage, he has three sons 
living. An infant daughter was lost about ten 
years since. 

Mr. Hill's personal appearance is familiar to 
every citizen in the State. lie is short and spare, 
and is lame, from the effects of an injury receiv- 
ed in early childhood. His countenance, the 
general contour of his features, his high fore- 
head, and the expression of his eyes, all conspire 
in conveying an impression of intellectual supe- 
riority ; in giving him an air, which his enemies 
call ^ demoniacal,^ and which his warmest admirers 
consider the unerring tokens of a powerful and 
original mind. His countenance certainly bears 
the impress of thought, and no one, we believe, 
ever denied him the possession of originality of 
genius, depth of judgment, and natural talent.^ 
He is plain in his dress, is a true working-man, 
both in appearance and in practice, and may be 
seen any day, in his republican apparel, either 
laboring with his workmen or directing their op- 
erations. He has ever been an industrious man ; 
has gained his property and preserved nis health 
by a long life of continued, honorable, personal 
labor. He has 

" Valued nothing; less 
Than titles, figures, shape and dress; 
Thinks merit should be chiefly placed 
In judgment, knowledge, wit and taste." 

As to Mr. Hill's style of writing, it is unncces- 



154 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

sary to add much, particularly in a State where 
his productions have formed, for a quarter of a 
century, part of the reading of every citizen, to 
what has already been casually offered in the pro- 
gress of this sketch. He became a ready writer 
in the days of his boyhood, and to the powers of 
his pen is to be ascribed nearly all the influence 
which he has been enabled to command. He has 
so long- written in defence of republican princi- 
ples, that he would perhaps find it impossible to 
guide his pen in ihe construction of a single sen- 
tence which should intentionally convey an idea 
inimical r,o the rights of the people. Hence, the 
strong, the psrvading tinge, which his liberal 
feelings impart to every subject on which he 
touches. Me lias ever been independent and 
fearlessly prompt in placing upon paper his real, 
undisguised sentiments, without enquiring who 
would be offended, or what would be the conse- 
quences, lie has been blamed, perhaps with 
some reason, for the caustic severity of his ani- 
madversions upon the ac^ts and motives of political 
opponents. It should however be held as a mit- 
igation of this fault, that he has suffered, perhaps 
ns much^ any other man, from the personal 
abuse an^ wicked fabrications of his enemies; 
and that hence, he has been induced, on some oc- 
casions, to give unchecked range to the severity 
of his remarks. His feelings, however excited, 
never permitted him to utter a whisper of accu- 
sation or word of reproach against one, whom 
death or other causes had placed in a situation 
whence no answer could be returned. He never 
e.vultcd over an enemy, oppressed or heaped af- 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 155 

fliction on the afflicted. Such conduct has justly 
been marked, as the ' mean triumph of a dastard 
soul.' Mr. Hill's pen has ever been found ready 
to defend the interests of New-Hampshire and 
the fame of her sons. His writings are, in their 
character, plain and practical. No man needs a 
knowledge of dead languages or literature mo- 
nopolised by a few, to understand his meaning. 
No lurking mystery lies concealed in the verbiage 
of his sentences ; no riddle, no contradiction, no 
obscurity ever puzzles the brain of the plain, un- 
tutored, intelligent reader. 

The same plainness and republican simplicity 
characteiise his speeches, whether written or ex- 
temporaneous. On whatever subject his feelings 
may have been enlisted, he enters upon it with 
the calmness and deliberation of one enquiring 
for truth ; and it is in truth, in facts, that he chiefly 
deals. His arguments are sound, because he sets 
out vvith known, proved and sufficient data, and 
his conclusions follow from his premises, natural- 
ly and justly. Hence the written reports of his 
speeches have always been read with avidity and 
been more eagerly sought for, than those gems 
of taste and eloquence with which the finished 
orator delights his hearers. The works of the 
latter, must be heard, to be fully appreciated ; the 
excellencies of the former, are more visible on a 
careful perusal. The speeches of the man of 
eloquence, will long survive as models of diction, 
elegance and taste, while those of the practical 
politician will possess greater interest with the 
great body of our citizens, and will be more con 
fidently relied upon in matters of fact, The de- 



156 KIOGRAPHY OP ISAAC HILL. 

ficiencies of his early education, or more proper- 
ly, the want of any instruction from others that 
can be dignified by such a name, prevent Mr. 
Hill from aspiring to the honors of the orator ; 
he has no richly-stored imagination on which to 
draw for those creations of fancy which delight 
and dazzle, but which do not convince ; plain, 
practical good sense and sound knowledge in all 
subjects of common concern, or relating to our 
national polity, are all the attractions w^hich he 
brings to add interest to his speeches. He is not 
fluent, hesitntes much in his delivery, and usually 
shews his desire to instruct and entertain his au- 
ditory and his respect for his own reputation, by 
speaking only after careful preparation, much 
reading, much thought, and much writing on the 
subject. There are not wanting instances, how- 
ever, in which he has been taken by surprise, 
and, on the excitement of the moment, has re- 
turned to personal attacks, a happy reply. 

That Mr. Hill is liberal in his opinions, in re- 
ligion as well as in politics, may have been gath- 
ered from what has already been written. He is 
opposed to monopolies of every description, and 
is willing to extend the hand of charity to every 
sincere worshipper of God, whether he agree 
with himself upon speculative points or not. He 
is worthy of all praise, not merely as an active 
partizan in behalf of those political principles 
which he has espoused, but as having been an ef- 
ficient instrument in carrying into practice the 
letter and the spirit of our Bill of Rights. The 
principles of that invaluable document have ever 
found in him a zealous supporter. He is entire- 



BIOaRAPIIY OF ISAAC HILL. 157 

]y opposed to that proselyting, persecnting spirit 
which characterize many religious sects of the 
present day, and is v/illing that all denominationa 
shall dwell together on ter;ns of perfect equality. 
His religion is not that of the sword or the fire- 
brand ; he would propagate it, neither by the burn- 
ing of heretics or of convents. His exertions in 
favor of the Toleration law, which have already 
been spoken of, and his eftorts in behalf of those 
peculiar people, who, under the name of Shakers, 
have established two flourishing communities in 
New-Hampshire, and who have frequently been 
handled, in their })rofession and practice, with 
much severity both by renegades from their faith 
and in the legislature of the State, will attest his 
liberal feelings ; will show the extent of that be- 
nevolence which can include the whole body of 
his fellow-citizens. He is, however, no free- 
thinker, but a sincere believer in the moral pre- 
cepts v/hich Christ lived and died to inculcate. — 
Liberality has been well styled, ' the handmaid 
of science and the daughter of truth.' It is e- 
qually opposed to bigotry, superstition and infidel- 
ity. ' Of all n>ental aberrations, freedom of 
thinking is the most obnoxious, as it is fostered 
by the pride of the heart and the vanity of the 
imagination. In superstition, we sometimes see 
the anxiety of a well disposed mind to discharge 
its conscience ; with bigotry, we often see asso- 
ciated the mild virtues which are taught by 
Christianity ; but in the free-thinker, we only see 
the bad passions and the unruly will, set free 
from all the constraints of outward authority, and 
disengaged from the control of reason and judg- 
14 



15^ KlOriRAFIiV OP ISAAC lllf.T,. 

inont: in such a ni.sn, the arniablp qualities of 
ilie natural ilispcjitiDri beco.ne corn^ptcd, and the 
«'vil humors trinmph.' Mr. iliil co-operated, sonic 
years since, in procdrhig- the regular performance 
of Episcopal services i-n Concord. After they 
had been disconlinned, he usually attended upon 
j)ub]ic worship in th.e Aiethodist church. 

In his morals, we fear no contradiction, when we 
declare him a living pattern for the imitation of ev- 
ery young aspirant for honor and reputation. From 
his very boyhood, he has been free from the taint 
of vice in every form. In his school-days, during 
his apprenticeship, and. the period subsequent to 
his removal to Concord, no imputation of moral 
stain can rest upon his character. How melan- 
choly is the reflection, that upon so few of our 
great men can this greatest of all commendations 
he truly bestowed! Men of powerful intellect 
and superior talents too often, in the words of a 
distinguished writer, '' make their genius an apol- 
ogy for vice, and take the sacred fire, kindled by 
God within them, to inflanriO men's passions," and 
to minister to the worst of purposes. Mr. Hill 
has ever been regular in all his habits, upright 
and honorable in all his dealings, temperate and 
industrious, exact and prudent. Even in his, 
youthful days, he never sliared in those dissipa- 
tions which are, at that period, generally held ex- 
cusable. 

There exist many striking points of analogy 
between his character and that of the venerable 
parent of American literature, Benjamin Frank- 
lin. They both were of humble extraction ; born 
in indigence and nursed in labor. Thoy both 



KIOGHAriSY OF ISAAC HILL. 159 

followed the same profession and both became 
patriarchs among their brethren of the trade. — 
They were both studious in the days of their 
you til, and in the intervals of severe daily labor, 
laid the foundation of future eminence. Both 
owe their fortunes to tlieir own indu:-try and perse- 
verancft, accompanied by the kindred virtues of 
temperance, sobriety, order, and government of 
the passions. Both have been plain, practical 
»i!on, neither possessiag eloquence, or poetry, or 
the attractions which the imaginative faculty can 
throw around the most absfrut^e subject; com- 
mon sense is characteristic of their writing*?. 



Such are some of the prominent trr.its in t'lo 
character of the man who is now offered to the 
citizens of Nevz-Hampshiie as a candidate for 
the ciiief manistraey of their i'^'tate. If elected, 
we have every assurance in the entire history of his 
past life, that lie will pursue, in that station, the s uho 
course of conduct, governed by the same princi- 
)>les, as he has hitk«^'rto done in Ins editorial and 
legislative capacity. It would bo difficult lo siip- 
pto^e an individual more suitable to guide the 
councils of a rcpnblicfin State, than a mnn "\\l:o 
has for so nsaiiy A^enrs, fought for the repubhwin 
cauvo, who has adhered to it through evil rejiort 
niid throngh good reroit, v.ho hrs never swerved 
fio!;! hi.^ prinriplee, hul has found Vnem equal to his 
sujij.ojL in every p;i!tin wjiich he has been called 
ujxin to engage; who has been of such eunuent ser- 
vice in chaniiing the pcditics of r>rew-I]anij)shire 
and who is, withal, of inei)roachahle mor;^; , of u!ii~ 



160 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

versal benevolence, and of excellent general 
character. The party that support him, will be 
the same with which he has co-operated for twen- 
ty-five years ; it includes those who are in favor 
of constitutional republicanism, as opposed to 
monarchical federalism, or aristocratic principles 
however named ; who are in favor of equal rights 
to every citizen ; who are opposed to all monopo- 
lies, and hostile to every system by which sec- 
tional jealousy may be excited and kept alive, and 
one portion of the Union may enrich itself at the 
expense of another. 

The party who oppose him can certainly not 
be characterized in so few words. If organized 
at all, it must be marshalled under divers petty 
leaders and in various distinct shapes to preserve 
uniformity of action among- so heterogeneous a 
mass. It is composed of parti-colored politicians, 
of men of very different views and whose lives 
have been passed in struggles for very difi'erent 
interests. The only common bond of union is an 
inveterate hatred against the democratic party 
and an ardent desire to hurl its members from the 
ascendency which they now enjoy. Should this 
be acconji^lished, and v.ere it possible for the re- 
publican party to be drawn from the field, so that 
no common enemy should frighten them iiito mu- 
tual concession, the struggles of these difierent 
factions for the domination of the rest, would 
equal in virulence their present united contest for 
the supreme power. 

Now, this i»arty, com])os(^d of these men, have 
stolen the sacred name of Whigs to serve their 
selfish interests, and seem to hope the deception 



BIOGIlAl'Ii.V OV ISAAC HILL, U)i 

u succossful one ; tlint ^-'Y tlio mnrric irill'.icnce ot" 
that povv-erful and once revered word, they shall 
be able to slide into power over the necks of an 
abused peo-ile and a prostrate democracy. They 
expect to conceal eifectually under these borrow- 
ed plumes, the jack-dav/ blackness of their own 
character. They wish to call off the attention of 
the people from their objects and principles by 
raising aloud an assumed watchword, under wiiich 
they are endeavoring to undermine t!)e very bat- 
tlements and walled places of repuidicanism. As 
has been well remarked, he that picks your pock- 
et, always tries to make you look another way, 
* See that man, the other side of the street — what 
a fiery nose he has ! Lord, there's a chimney 
a-flre ! D'ye see yon man going along in the 
bottle-green cloak ? That's the very man that 
stole one of Jupiter's satellites and sold it to an 
ignorant fool for a gold watch, and it set his 
breeches on fire ! ' Now the man that has his 
hand in your pocket, does not care a brass far- 
thing whether you believe what he says or not. 
Ail his aim is, to prevent your looking at Inn), 
and discovering what he is really doing. Just so 
it is with the remnant of the federal faction. — 
Under the name of Whigs, and with the aid of a 
few mercenary renegades, they hope to deceive 
the people into forgetfulness of tlse measures 
they once advocated and into a belief of their 
present purity and patriotism. It is impossible 
that such barefftced deception as the assumption 
by such a mixture of such men, of the sacred 
name of Whigs, can be finally successful. ]?ut 
if the people are not upon their guard, thcv niav 
3 4- 



162 BIOGRAPHY or tSAAC HILL. 

be for a time, as not a few doubtless have been, 
led asti-ay. The father of poetry, the bard of 
ancient Greece, has remarked that celestial bod- 
ies, if separated, soon unite again ; and it is cer- 
tain that no stab can inflict a fatal wound on 
Truth — but incessantly repeated attempts may 
for a brief period obscure its lustre. 

This party, which has at last agreed upon a 
name under which to contend, (though doubtless 
it will soon be worn out) forms a curious medley. 
It consists of those who have been unwillingly 
deceived ; of renegades from republican faith ; 
and of the remnant of the original federal dynas- 
ty. The first of these elements of the great 
National Whig party, must soon see their error, 
and will, at the first accidental disclosure of the 
cloven foot and cornuted skull of the monster 
under whose wing they have been sheltering, 
seek refuge among their early friends and once 
more range themselves in support of old consti- 
tutional principles. Yet, a man may as easily 
introduce himself between the onion and its peel, 
and come forth unscented, as can these escape 
taint from their intercouse with this lecherous 
'Old Man of the Sea.' Many, through fear of 
ridicule for tlieir inconsistency, will remain firm 
in the allegiance to v/hich they have unwittingly 
submitted. These, with the renegades from re- 
publicanism, those whom chance had thrown upon 
the side of democracy, though in heart and dis- 
position opposed to its principles, disappointed 
seekers for office, discontented and growling 
partizansj all whose inordinate expectations and 



BIOGPvAPIiy OF ISAAC HILL. 163 

insatiable ambition have not been gratified, form 
the second, a large, and the most virulent and 
unprincipled portion of the opposition party. It 
is their favorite policy to add to their ranks, by 
recruits of like character with themselves. It is 
thus they hope to acquire an ascendancy, not on- 
ly over present opponents, but also over those 
towards whom they now profess cordiality — those 
who sincerely and honorably believe the senti- 
ments which they profess. These last will not 
find their selfish allies of great service, and in- 
deed, some of the most sagacious often manifest 
•a gleam of suspicion as to their motives and 
measures ; a thought that they may possibly 
prove faithless and will yet endeavor, ' with new 
treasons, to redeem the past.' 

The old federal party and those who maintain 
the principles which actuated the partizans of 
John Adams in '98, are, almost to a man, ranged 
in opposition to the present administration and its 
supporters. This fact cannot be denied. Where- 
ever there still lives a man, who was a prominent 
member of the old federal party, that man is an 
adherent of modern Whiggery. Think for a 
moment of the politics of every surviving mem- 
ber of the Hartford Convention. They are 
Whigs, without an exception. Where is the 
Secretary of that Convention and the zealous de- 
fender of its motives and measures ? Where are 
its ministers plenipotentiary to the government 
at Washington, sent to treat with the Executive, 
as with any foreign power ? It is true, a bare- 
faced attempt has more than once been made to 



5 04 niounAYUY gi- Isaac; hill. 

i.iciiliJy llio ol.l republican party withil)c mongrel 
Whi^s of tlie present day, but the deception irf 
too plain to be swallowed. Even the honest con- 
sciences of many of the old federalists theui- 
«elves will not allow it. When the New-England 
Revie\y, on a Hte occasion, declared the princi- 
ples of the Whi^\s to be isubotantialiy those of 
Jefferson and Madison, Noah Webster, an old 
veteran editor of ihe black cockade stamp, indig-- 
nantly repelled the slander upon the old federal 
party and reproached his young brother for not 
knowing that" it was identical with the opposition 
to Jackson and^^'an Euren. To the same effect 
have Dwight and Sullivan and Buckingham and 
tiie veteran editor of the Farmers' Cabinet in our 
own State, — all authorities which the Whigs will 
not care to dispute, borne Vvilling testimony. Of 
s^hat use, then, can it be, for such a man as Dan- 
iel Webster, ff leading opponent of the late war, 
and in favor of the Hartford (convention, what- 
ever his friends may now find it expedient to say 
to the contrary, impudenlly to claim for his party, 
the presumed support of such men as Stark and 
Ijungdon, men whom he himself personally oppo- 
sed in 1812 ? Why sliould certain Whig papers 
persist in declaring themselves defenders of re- 
publican principles and believers in the denio- 
crnlic doctrines of Jefferson ? It is only to de- 
ceive the ignorant and unwary- — there can be no 
other motive. So the emperor Alexander pros- 
trated himself before the tomb of Achilles and 
went through the farce of doing honor to h 
memory ; when had that hero been alive, tl 



IS 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 165 

ambition and jealousy ef the Macedonian would 
not have permitted hi-tri to rest, till the 
destruction of so dangerous a rival had been ef- 
effected. 

The opposition, then, is in effect, no other than 
the old federal party, and is composed of sincere 
believers in the old fashioned doctrines of a 
' strong government,' and of those who find it 
convenient to make profession of a similar faith. 
With the former, we make no war, as men ; be- 
lieving them honest, we respect them for their 
independence and their consistency ; but v;e 
would contend against them with all the enthu- 
siasm which the cause of liberty can inspire ; 
with the strength of ail our soul, would we op- 
pose them — because we think their doctrines 
dangerous, subversive of freedom, opposed to 
equal rights, and inconsistent with the entire 
spirit of our institutions. Iiad it not been, that 
a few worthy patriots of Revolutionary limes, 
attached by all the powerful prejudices of birth 
and education, to the old systems of government, 
though disliking those who chanced then to ad- 
minister power, and distrusting the ability of the 
people to take care of themselves, used the in- 
fluence of their names in the promulgation of 
njonarchical sentiments, such doctrines could 
never have taken deep root J n our liberty-loving 
country. Their principles are, we repeat it, es- 
sentially monarchical : though somewhat modified, 
and the more dangerous because they are so, to 
conform to the popular voice, and so as not to 
shock too much the free sentimenJs of our free 



166 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

citizens. The 'vhole train and tenor of their 
writiiiiis is against demncracy, ag-ai-nst e<iual suf- 
frage, against the government of the people, in 
favor of independent and irresponsible rulers. — 
With natural fellow-feeling, they look to England 
our former mistress, as having a goveriiujent 
formed on the purest model of wisdom. They 
speak of her in tones of veneration npin-oacliing 
ahnost to idolatry — tlieir hearts yearn iifter her 
: dominion, ^^he 'is the hulvvarh of our holy reli- 
gion,' says Gov. Strong: she 'deals oiU veng- 
eance like a God,' responds Ben Russel. Occa- 
sionally, in a moment of forgetfulness, they speak 
stdl plainer the secret thoughts of their hearts. 
►Said the editor of the Farmer's ftiuseum in 1797, 
one of the most powerful, and in ])olitics the m.ost 
demf^nted writer our coiiutry c\vr produced, — 
speaking of a orcat fire in B(;?-ton, 'when wiil 
this wooden city anicnd her police.^ It is said 
the old W/(7g5 are tnost averse to a reform, ami 
:tliat most of the blanie of those frcqnciit conflagra.- 
ti'>n;~ must be hiid to th-ir churro.— 'inhere men 
•j i. e. the old Whim's] c;innot be ciinrg<-d Wvitli 
iripri'-r; ihe ffaiiie spirit ichith IiL::Jd(d a Jhimc in 
'To, would suivcy v.ilh indifference a blazing 
sireot in '97, rather than forget the rifrhl of svrhj 
afposiiiori.'' Again, llie same man speaKs of ti;e 
^French Revolution, ajj event wliict), hc'-vrver iin- 
diappy in its result, v.as broughl nbei;t by l!,e 
same gh)rious y^riucipl-es tb.at afj'ccted oor own 
in.lependence, 'Frenchmen are I'ui uijk'c! equal 
and free; lliey are destir'evl to yield nh(Mli(>n-ce to 
•.the-bchests oi' their Maker and the viandaks of 



nonRArnv of isaac ihi.t,. Hi? 

a king.'"*' In siiort, we nm.st coni-iiidOj in iho 
words of Jefferson bi.nseh' as cxprcyiried in a let- 
ter to our own venerated Lang-don, tluit ''the to~ 
ryisin with which we strng'gded in '77, (iilFered 
but in name from the federalism of '*J3, with 
which we struggled also ; and the Angliciytn of 
1808, with which we are now struggding, is bnt 
the same thing still, in another form. It is a 
longingc for a king, and an English king, rather 
than any other. This is the true source cf their 
sorrows and wailings," 

if tiieu, we have proved what vve think must 
follow from their own occasional confessions that 
toryism, federalism, anglicism and modern whig- 
ism, (not the * old Whigs,') are essentially the 
same, does it not behoove every true republican 
to stand en his guard against tlie approaches of 
this foe to liberty ? They come to us under a 
name which once implied every thing that was 
good, that was patriotic ; they come with fair 
pretences and with loud protestations of inno- 
cence, but it is only that they may rob us of all 
that we hold dear. Let us turn a deaf ear to 
their syren songs, let us present to them a bold 
and united front, let us say, with the wise Tro- 
jan, ' I fear those Grecians, even when they come 
with a present in their hands.' Let us not throw- 
do \vn the walls of union which now preserve us, 
to admit their wooden image of deception — its 
flanks conceal death to our cause. The old 



* The writings of Gouverneur Morris, Josiah Dun- 
ham, &c. will afford innumerable declarations of a sim- 
ilar import. 



163 BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 

lion of toryism is there, though conceaied ; Ite is 
not dead, but sleepeth ; whether couchant or 
rampant, he is the same dangerous beast. Their 
motto is, ' Divide and conquer,' and like Milton's 
devil, their attempts will not bo discontinued, 
so long as there remains the least chance of 
success. 

What tho' the field be lost! 
Al! is not lost; th' unconquerable will 
And study of revenue, immorfaZ hate 
And courage never to submit or yield, 
Remain. 

It is only by perfect union ; by a thorough 
organization, by previous concert, and well 
digested plans, by mutual concession, by a 
yielding of personal preferences and repress- 
ing personal dislikes, for the victory of principle^ 
that the Republicans can hope long to resist 
successfully their repeated and varied attacks. — 
So long as they shall pursue such a course, a 
course which true wisdom and sound policy 
dictate, there is good sense and vital virtue 
enough in our country to preserve us forever 
from the domination of an aristocracy, and our 
General and State governments from the taint of 
federal influence. 

For Mr. Hill himself, as a candidate for a 
high office, we feel no fear ; and have hence 
said nothing in allusion to his particular case. — 
He received the nomination for Governor, unso- 
licited, and hi3 principles and character are 



BIOGRAPHY OF ISAAC HILL. 169 

well known to the people of New-Hampshire. — 
Apart from his political views, there is probably 
not a man among us, who would not readi- 
ly acknowledge him the most suitable person for 
the chief magistracy of a State, in whose pros- 
perity he is so deeply interested, and with whose 
honor, his own reputation is so intimately con- 
nected. 

" To birth or office, no respect be paid 
Let worth determine here." 
15 



COMPRISING SELECTIONS FROM THE SPEECHES 
AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF 

MR. HILL. 



APPENDIX. 



A. 



Extract frcm the N. H. Patriot, 12 May, 1812. 
THE EMBARGO. 
Tlie intention of the British ministry, according to their 
own publications, is to " annihihile neutial connnerce;' 
tliis means American commerce, a? America is the only neu- 
tral nation. Now, we have aheady seen that, there is no 
safety on the ocean. — Great -Britain seizes all American 
commerce destined to any other part of the world than her 
own, or the territories of her allies. — Under such circum- 
stances, « hat can so effectually suljserve our interests as the 
Embargo? True it is, the merchants in the British inter- 
est, informed that an embargo was intended, by the treach- 
ery of federal members in Congress, pushed out immense 
(|uantities of flour, &lc. the week preceding the embargo — a 
part of this will inevitably precipitate itself into the jaws 
of destruction. The embargo v\ ill undoubtedly be substituted 
either by a war or such concessions! as will cause the right.« ol 
neutrals to be respected. The government will either be- 
con;e a belligerent, or she will no longer continue a neutral 
nation giving Great-Britain the right to " amiihilate neutral 
commerce;" she will either go to war, or she will remain 
at peace on no other terms than that the American flag shall 
protect American property . We are firm in the opinion 
that she must and will fight. Such being the case, the em- 
bargo was a wise and prudent measure; vnsc, because it 



174 APPKNDIX. 

prevented our enemy from obtaining supplies which she 
cannot do without; and prude7ii, because it keeps at home 
ihat property and those resources which we shall need in 
case of a contest now rendered inevitable. 

In vain may the merchants, whose interest is wrapped up 
in the interests of Great-Britain, and whose attachments to 
her, notwithstanding she continues to seize their property, 
are as natural as the increased affection of the spaniel for 
the severity of his master — in vain may they attempt to con- 
vince thinking jjcople in the country that the embargo will 
not be beneficial: — they will undoubtedly have some effect 
on their poor dependents, whose knovvledge extends no fur- 
ther than their own private interests, who think they see in 
our government that enemy to American commerce which 
is only to be found in Great-Britain, and who suppose the 
nation must starve because we have plenty of provisions, 
and because government has the prudence to retain them 
for our own use! 

The embargo is beneficial to pooi^ people — because it 
makes every necessary article of consumption cheaper. 

It is beneficial to the manufacturer — because it enables 
him to sell his own productions in place of the miserable 
manufactures ol Britain. 

It is beneficial to the farmer — because it prevents the 
exchange of articles of real and solid worth for those 
which comparatively speaking are worth little or nothing. 

But what redounds to the benefit of all tlie foregoing 
classes, is su|)posed to be injurious to the merchant; — not to 
the fair and lionorable merchant — but to such as have been 
in the habit of sponging the country people and have made 
themselves rich at other's expense. — These hate to see the 
growth of domestic manufactures — because if the people are 
thereby supplied, they lose the profit of their very lucrative 
trade with England . -lienor their incessant clamors against 
the non-intercourse and embargo laws We do not expect 
but the pressure of the times will produce partial distress — 
we may anticipate that those distresses will be charged to 
the government, by men who cannot, who will not see the 
real cause; but we trust that the continued afiection of more 
than three fourths of the people, and therefieclion of doing 
what is- right and just, will operate as a strong incentive to 
the Administration to march forward in their course of hon- 
orable measures with a firm and upright step. 



APPE.XDIX. 175 

B. 

Extract from the N. II. Patriot, 26 ^laij, 1S12. 
THE CRISIS. 

The present times are big wiih events upon wiiose favor- 
able or unfavorable turn depends the salvation or the eternal 
degradation of the only republican government on earth. — 
The party in this country adverse to its republican institutions 
have all along predicted that republics cannot last long — 
that there is not virtue, stability or energy in the people; 
and they have endeavored that dieir predictions should be 
verified by straining every nerve to palsy the arm of gov- 
ernment, to destroy that contidence the people repose in it, 
and misrepresent its measures and its strength, thereby en- 
couraging .foreign nations to continue their aggressions. — 
The British faction have invited the insult and contumely of 
foreign nations — laughed at tlie government for its long for- 
bearance under the repeated deccfjtions and injuries prac- 
tised on it by Great-Britain — said that government could 
not be kicked into a war; and now th.'t ihe cup of concili- 
ation has been drained of its very dregs, and our government 
is calling into action the energies of the nation and pursu- 
ing the only course which can free us /*-om the shackles of 
foreign bondage-^this same factiop declare that government 
rash and " mad " — they decla«3 that we have not cause of 
war with Great-Britain, and that the people will forcibly 
resist the government rather than join it in support of a 
war : — they withhold the means of supporting the govern- 
ment which themselves possess, and they discourage others 
in lending their means for the laudable purpose of perpetu- 
ating that independence which was bought by the blood of 
our fathers; they attempt to terrify tlie people into the most 
abject vassalage, by arraying the horrors of war in all their 
vivid colors before them, and fancying miseries andsufter- 
ings in consequence which no nation ever realized. 

That tlie policy of our governujent has ever been the 
preservation of peace, must be manliest to those in the 
least degree acquainted with its measures. Its anxiety to 
preserve peace has perhaps been too great — has caused it to 
bear injuries which nothing else could justify. To this pre- 
disposition for peace, the internal enemies uf our republic 
have flattered themselves the nation would fall an easy sac- 
rifice; and to their disappointment in this particular may 
be asciibed their present virulence towards the government. 



176 APPENDIX. 

They do not now oppose war because longer submissiort 
would be of advantage to thoimselves or the country, but be- 
cause it must end in the disgrace of the country and the 
entire prostration of its independence. I'hey do not ad- 
dress the peace-loving passions of the pef pie — they do not 
deprecate the expense in blood and treasure wliich a war 
may incur, from a wish to preserve the country — but because 
they knovv if that country continues in ils present state, its 
government must be destroyed, and one better adapted to 
their \ie\vs, an aristocraey which shall not depend on the 
voice of the people, will rise on its ruins. The republicans, 
tjie nation's party, the life-biood of the country, are and 
ever have been the advocates of peace ; and to secure that 
peace their voice is now unanimous in fiivor of asserting the 
rights of their country. — in favor of a war, which is the on- 
ly resort left for an ultimate and honorable peace. The fed- 
eralists are advocates for tame submission to the insults of 
foreign nations, which submission they call peace, because 
they know that such submission is directly calculated to des- 
troy the confidence of the people in tliemselves and their 
government, and to produce that anarchy and confusion 
which of all other things are best calculated to subserve their 
purposes. 

The situation to v\hich the aggressions of foreign nations, 
of Great-Britain in particfdar, have reduced our country, is 
of all others the best calculated, under the misrepresenta- 
tions of the opposition, to make the administration unpop- 
ular with that class of people who cannot or will not trace 
effects to their causes. It is not at all surpi ising that the 
opposition wish this state of thingsto continue, because up- 
on such a state of things alone can they ri.-e into power. — 
They knovv that a war will cause our rights to be respected ; 
and that the effects of a war must destroy all tiieir grounds 
of opposition. Hence they attempt to impress the people 
with the belief tiiat a war will be destructive to the country, 
vvhen it will only l>e the destruction of the faction which 
sighs for the subversion of our liberties. 

Our administration do not wish for war, and they have 
delayed it so long as a glimmering of hope remained that the 
last resort would not be necessary. The federalists have 
i-iade great exertions in our elections; and their delusions, 
with some local causes, have succeeded in changing the 
opinions of a few hundreds in New-England, out of as many 
hundred thousands, under the idea that all would be right if 
they voted for federal men. The great body of the people 



APPENDIX. 177 

■s emaiii firm, and will support the government, if that gov- 
ernment supports its own digaity tvud its rights ; but if it 
deserts them, the people must resort to others who will act 
worthy of the cause and rights for which they are contend- 
ing. "We have full confidence in the government of the peo- 
ple ; we feel assured, as well from their known character 
as from our private information, that the government will 
not flinch. The time is even no\V come (yesterday) when 
the ulterior measures have been submitted to Congress; and 
THE PEOPLE are ready to meet, and second them. 



c. 



MR. HILL'S DEFENCE AGAINST THE CHARGE 
OF POLITICAL BIGOTRY. 

Extract from the N. H. Patriot, 30 May, 1820. 

It is often a complaint against us, that we are too rigid 
in our political sentiments — that we contribute to keep a- 
live the flame of party spirit, vviiich but for the continual 
references of the republicans would die away forever. Ref- 
erences, to what ? Why, to the past political sins of the 
federal party. Now we shouhl be sorry to have every fed- 
eralist think himself included in the censures justly cast up- 
on his party, although he may be oulpable for being found 
in such company. It is tl^e leaders of that party — the men 
who openly talked of a dissolution of the union in 1815 — the 
men who have for twenty years been incessantly pouring out 
vials of wrath and obloquy on those very measures which 
have raised our country to its present height of glory, and 
for the raerit of which this very modest party now claims a 
share of applause. — It is such men whom we deem unwor- 
thy, whose conduct should often be looked into, and who 
are not fit to be entrusted with public ofiices. There ate 
many honest federalist?, no doubt, whose intentions and 
prayers were on the side of country; they loved our insti- 
tutions, but were blindly impressed with the sentiment that 
they were withering away under a republican administra- 
tion ; their enmity was artificial, produced by the continual 
excitement of men whose motives had deeper foundations; 



178 APPENDIT, 

tWey opposed men only. But the leaders of the federaf par- 
ty had objects more interesting iu their hostility. They dis- 
believed the theory of our government disdained the idea 
of universal liberty — censured as enthusiasts and wild men 
those who advocated our untrammelled institutions; their 
coiduct arose from a settled, native hostility to a republican 
form of government. Privileged orders, titles, hereditary 
honors, and all the et ceteras of European systems entered 
into their schemes of political organization. To them the 
mountain cry of liberty, as she ranged throughout our bor- 
ders, seemed disorderly, and they could not believe, after 
the fatal examples of ancient republics, that ours would be 
permanent or happy. Well meaning federalists, we say, 
knew nothing of such views. Their leaders were too wise 
to instil them openly ; and even when the infamous assem- 
blage at Hartlord was planned and all the fiery apparatus of 
civil uproar prepared — when New-England was on the brink 
of a separate existence — well meaning federalists knew no- 
thing of the views of their leaders. The safety of the coun- 
try they sighed (or, but blindly upheld its enemies. These 
things are abundantly proved — by the revealed intentions of 
the leading federalists — by their chagrin and mortification 
under disappointment — and by the general secession of the 
honest federalists from their ranks. Under such circum- 
stances, we deem it our bounden duty to admonish our 
brethren of the dangers to which our country is exposed — of 
the intentions of those who even declare the feasibility of a 
teparation of the Stiites. To remind the evil of their er- 
rors, the foolish of their danger, and to uphold good men in 
erery laudable pursuit, is a sacred duty. Better err on the 
side of country than amongst its deadly enemies. 



D. 



CONCLUSION OF MR. HILL'S ADDRESS AT THE 
REPUBLICAN CELEBRATION IN CONCORD. 

8 Jan. 1828. 

Tt is a solemn truth, which will not be too often or too 
forcibly impressed on the minds of the people, that poor 
human nature cannot always be trusted with the exercise of 
fowsr without abusing it. The fascinations of power, the 



APPENDIX. 179 

long exercise of official authoiKty, will Bometimes change » 
plain republican into a contemner of the people's rights. — 
The salvation of the people rests in themselves — in the lib- 
erty to discuss the merits of men and measures — in the right 
to change the public servants which is given them by our fre- 
quent elections. I should despair of our rights — I should 
consider the toils and the blood of the revolution to have 
been expended in vain — had we a» hereditary President or 
Senate for life, agreeably to the wishes of the party who 
consider the people their own worst enemies. I should des- 
pair of the Republic, were the doctiine to obtain which is 
now contended for by the partizans of Mr. Adams, that the 
President alone is the Constitutional Government, and that 
every opinion calling in question his measures or his acts — 
€very effort to prevent his succession in office, is " wicked 
opposition"" — is moral treason ! The doctrine of slavish 
submission and non-resistance is fit only for the slaves of an 
European despot ; let it never be adopted by a republican 
people, whose boast is that their rights were gained by the 
flowing Wood of the purest patriots. 

While the people shall retain that intelligence which ig 
quick to discern, and that virtue which is prompt to choose 
the most disinterested men for their rulers — when the public 
servants shall be as prompt and willing to retire from office 
to give place to others their equals or superiors, as they 
w ere to accept office — when our officers shall without ex- 
ception be as faithful in managing the business of the public 
as they are in managing their own concerns — when those 
unfaithful servants shall be dismissed whose maxim is that 
robbery of the public treasury is not as sinfid as theft from 
an individual — when combinations of lobby managers to 
overawe and control the delibei^ations and acts of our legis- 
lative bodies, shall he scouted from the land — v\'hen the will 
of the people shall no longer be frustrated" by bargain, in- 
trigue and management — when the last attempt to orgajiize 
faction by mingling all good and bad politic;! [ distiuctions 
and arraying one portion of the country against another 
portion of the country on account of some pretended differ- 
ence of interest, shall have been looked down by the people 
— when man shall no longer persecute and oppress man for 
an honest difference of opinion either in religion or onmat- 
••rs of civil polity ; then shall we enjoy in fnll Iruition all 
the rights and benefits of a perfect Republic; then shall our« 
present the sublime spectacleof tlie most perfect adminietra- 
sJoG of the most perfect Government onearth. 



ISO ArrENDii. 

^• 

MR. HILL'S DEFENCE AGALNST THE CHARGE 
OF INCONSISTENCY. 

Extract from the N. H. Patriot, 28 July, 1828. 

POLITICAL CONSISTENCY. 

One of the expedients of the federal part)', to effect their 
object of a covL\\Ae\.e amalgamation, is to make their polit- 
ical opponents, the old republicans, appear as inconsistent 
as they have been themselves. The reason is, they have no 
other way of glossing over their own criminality but by 
producing a belief on the public mind that others Ivave not 
been less criminal than they have been. 

The editor of the Patriot has now been before the publio 
almost twenty years ; and during that time his sole object 
has been to support and maintain republican principles — 
the principle, that our government is instituted for the ben- 
efit of the whole and not of a few — the principle, that the 
officers of government are the servants and not the masters 
of the people — the principle, that the people ought not to be 
taxed to pay men for holding offices where they do not ren- 
der an equivalent — the princii)le of strict economy in public 
disbursements, of frequent and free elections, of the right to 
change our rulers, of toleration and protection of all political 
and religious opinions, when those opinions do not infringe 
the rights and consciences of others; in short, our object 
has been to support the principle of Democracy against the 
machinations of the vindictive Aristocracy. But during the 
period of nineteen years, there has not been a time when 
the Patriot has not been opposed, when the editor of the 
Patriot has not fieen personally abused and vilified by the 
federal papers in this State. It is, as he bel,ieves, a com- 
pliment to his consistency that he has never been a subject of 
their praise; and it affi)rds him a good evidence of his rec- 
titude, that he has been invariably patronized and supported 
by the great body of republicans in tliis State. 

In a contest for principle, the individual is of little con* 
sequence. Our political enemies have given to the Editor 
of the Patriot much more consequence than he ever deserved. 
With the newspapers three to one in the State in their favor, 
they are not satisfied wiih newspaper attacks. Within the 
last six months, nearly a hwidred thousand pamphlets have 



Appr.vDix. 181 

been yd in gratuitous circulation to produce an 'mpret- 
sion that ike opinions of an individual were formerly 
inconsiste7it with his present opinions; and garbled ex- 
tracts are produced to prove that he formerly had a good 
opinion of individuale whose conduct he now condemns. — 
And all this too when the party and the persons taking these 
unheard of measures will not, cannot even pretend that they 
have not been as inconsistent as they would represent us — 
for in opposing the principles we have supported, they have 
constantly opposed the individuals we have supported, and 
supported those we have opposed. 

Take, for instance, the Plnmers, the Bells, the Morrils, 

the^^Bartletts— great J M and little S — — H ;and 

even the present objects of their strong affections, John Q,. 
Adams and Henry Clay, c-jmpf«ing the " administration;" 
we confess that while these men appeared to be engaged in 
the cause of their country — while they seemed to be support- 
ing republican principles, the Patriot believed well and 
spoke well of thein ; — but then there was no epithet too vile 
for the federalists to use respecting them. The tables are 
completely turned so soon as these people array themselvea 
against the republican party : the Patriot takes up its testi- 
mony against duplicity and treachery ; and federalists are 
even more enamoured of their new recruits — some of whom 
have betrayed alternately both parties — than of those who 
have steadily been their friends. 

Almost one h:df of the present generation has ccr.ie upon 
the stage during the last nineteen jears. 'J'o show that the 
New-Hampshire Patriot lias steadily advocated the cause 
and principles it now advocates, we select a short article 
from one number in each month of its first year, all proceed- 
ing from the pen of the Editor. And we fear not to take 
up that paper year by year, and pursue it from the age of 
twenty-one to forty. Let the federalists do the same with 
the Concord Gazette, Register and Statesman, the Ports- 
mouth Oracle and Journal, the N. H. Sentinel, the Amherst 
Cabinet, &c. and it cannot but be apparent that neither they 
nor we have changed our principles, however they may 
have attempted to cast off their old name and take ours. 

The New-Hampshire Patriot in 1S09-10. 

April 18, 1809. ** Amidst the conflicts and animosities 

of infuriated zeal — when the unerring genius of improvement 

is cramped by the persevering advocates of corrupt systems 

of politv — when the evil spirit of Federalism is stalking up 

18 



182 APPENDIX. 

and down our land seeking whom it may devour — when the 
avowed and secret projects of internal and externa] enemied 
are aimed at the vitals of our republic — it becomes every 
one ivhose views are American, whose sentiments coincide 
with those of our fathers of the revolution, to iiicnlcate the 
pound doctrine of rational liberty, to espouse the cause of his 
country and his God. — The axioms of political morality, as 
expressed by \Vashington in his valedictory, by J kkfeu- 
SON and Madisok each at ths commencement of their 
presidential career, and so well practiFed in all their liv'es, 
are engraved on the heart of every American, and are pre- 
cisely those we would adopt." 

3Iay 9, 1809. " The State of Virginia forms an hon- 
orable contrast. While MapHach'.isetts was forming her plots, 
this first State in the Union was [>assing laws for the encour- 
agement of learning and the arts. As this respectable 
State was the first to oppose British tyranny, 'so she 
will be the last to desert her own free constitution and gov- 
ernment." 

June 6, IS09. " The temporary results in favor of fed- 
eralism of the late elections in New-England have inspired 
that party with new confidence and impudence.— But their 
day of retribution is comir)g — the eyes of the deceived 
have been opened. We venture to say, that 'another elec- 
tion will exhibit New-Hampshire perfectly regenerated." — 
[And it was so in the election of John Langhox.] 

July IJ, 1809. " The federalists, wcmean " the leading 
men of the federal party," have repeatedly violated that 
faith without which government and societies are of no avail : 
they have sought to divide the Union, to palsy the arm of 
government, to impel to open war, by interested and base 
appeals to the avarice and the interested passions of the 
worst part of the community. As republicans we are will- 
ing to receive them; but we can never meet them halfway 
— adopt half her errors, for the sake of being on terms 
with apostate federalism." [Have we not invariably held 
this doctrine ?] 

August 8, 1S09. " Freedom of opinion in religion, as 
wellasin those concerns which relate to civil polity, is the 
prevailing charactieristic of a republic : without such free- 
dom, our republican form of government degenerates at 
once into despotism. The true American principles, those 

Erinciples whose unerring path has been invariably pursued 
y the illustrious Jefferson, and thus far followed by the 
amiable Mai>ison, have stood the test of experiment, and 



APPEMJIX. 183 

proved tbemseWes to be the immutaLle foundation on which 
js to rest the safety of our rights. V/hatever good might at 
any time be attached to the iederal party, it has ceased to 
exist with respect to the motives of the leaders of that party ; 
they l»ave now given over every thing American. Their 
exertions are in diametrical opposition to the independent 
exercise of our privileges." [This has always been our 
sentiment.] 

Sept. 5, 1809. " It is the duty and privilege of a free 
people to search out the motives of their rulers — to lock at 
the tendency of their measures— to see whether they be in- 
tended for personal popularity, or the public good." "The 
motives of the great body of the people are undoubtedly 
pure; but prejudice attaches them alike to erroneous and 
correct sentiments- While every other State in the UnioQ 
renounced their erroneous opinions of polity in favor of the 
system of Mr. Jefferson — that system which has given us 
eight years of unexampled prosperity — Connecticut remaii>- 
ed firm to the cause of federal stamp acts and taxes, stand- 
ing armies and sedition bills." * [Connecticut was subse- 
quently partially regenerated — but where is she now *?] 

Oct. 3, ISCii. '• Whatever may now be the professions 
of the leaders of the Junto, — hov>ever they may discard 
former arrogance — however humble their attitude — " let 
them not be trusted;" — they stand ready, as well at this 
time as any other, to take advantage of circumstances." — 
" Never, till they renounce p^ist errors, can they claim our 
confidence in public stations. As a party, they have cast 
on themselves an indelible stigmy, an everlasting reproach." 
[Have they since wiped away that reproach 1] 
' Nov. 21, 1809. " The people not only have a right to 
know what are the leading sentiments of a candidate for 
public favor, but they likewise are entitled to the liberty 
of making comparisons between public conduct and private 
professions. In this way only can they discriminate be- 
tween the honest man and the hypocrite; between him who 
wishes well for his country, and him who seeks only for pop- 
ular favor in popular delusion." 

Dec. 12, 1809. '• There are some men, it is well known, 
who have professedly been republicans, but who have bar- 
tered their principles either for considerations of personal 
favor or for British gold. Among these is James Cheetham 
of New-York, who publishes a paper which formerly rank- 
ed among the first of the defenders of the republican cause. 
I! is dereliction having produced an entire withdrawal of re- 



184 ATPE^DIX. 

publican support, hs must look for a maintenanre to jome 
corrupt source. It is common now to see extracts publish 
ed in federal papers from Cheetbam's American ('itizen, 
" a rspublican" or " democratic paper," justifying Briti.sli 
insolence, and calling every American who is indignant at 
her insultg, by some odious appellation. Let the people not 
be deceived by disgraceful opinions palmed upon them as the 
opinions of tlieir friends." 

January 16, 1810. " Honest men might liave early im- 
bibed an unfavorable opinion of the administration of Mr. 
Jefferson. What pious christian would not shudder to hear, 
and witnessing in superiors an apparent serious belief in, the 
stories told of the infidelity and atheism of Jefferson in 1801 
— how our meeting houses were to be destroyed, our bibles 
burnt — clergymen to suffer martyrdom, or renounce their re- 
ligion — and like foolish tales. — But the inconsistencies of 
the leaders of the Anglo-federal party — the varim.is grourtds 
of opposition they have taken, at one time applauding the 
administration and afterwards condemning it for the same 
measures — their justification of the British, when they have 
added personal insi\k to national injury — must open tlie eyes 
of the blind. The question now between the two political 
parties is — shall we tamely submit to reiterated aggressions 
of foreign nations — shall we permit an agent of Bi itain to 
beard our Executive to the face, to give our government the 
lie with impunity "? or will we defend our Independence? 
will we defend those rights for which our fathers fought and 
bled?" 

Feh. 6, 1810. " If the question should be asked. What 
causes the disparity between the two administrations? 
(John Adams' and Jefferson's) — it may be answered — that 
in rendering unnecessary and abolishing the ofiices pertain- 
ing to the general administration, legislative and judicial 
departments included, the annual expenses were lessened more 
than one million of dollars — a host of excisemen, taxgath- 
erers, &.c. have been dismissed — the expenses of the naval 
and war departments have been lessened; — in fine, economy 
has taken the place of lavish expenditures, and reformation 
has been introduced into every department." [Mow is it 
under the second Adams ? John Adams' or Thomas Jeffer- 
son's administration,? — which does his rese.mble ?] 

March 20, 1810. " The resuir of the election (in which 
the patriot liANGDON triumphed over the federal candidate 
as the patriot Pierci: will triumph next year over the can- 
^lidate of the federali.'ts) has i,>ern a glorious triumph of the 



APPKM)IX. 185 

friends of our Constitution and tiie union of the States. In 
?pite of the fell fiends of discord and division — in epite of 
the machinations of enemies in and out of the State, (he 
Republican cause has prevailed ; it has passed the fiery or 
deal, and proved that " the truth is great and will 
PREVAIL." Never was the rectitude of republican prin- 
ciples more thoroughly tebted, and never had the friends of 
those principles greater cause to rejoice than in the result of 
this election. — They will rejoice, that the patriot of our rev- 
olution will be revered and esteemed, though assailed by 
the malignant powers of calumny and detraction — though 
two-edged slander has stabbed athis reputation. — They will 
rejoice at this practical comment upon republicans and fed- 
eralists — that though the latter may triumph in momentary 
delusion, in times when there must be sacrif-ce of interest to 
present leeling — the former will blossom and tiourii-h when 
the winter of delusion shall have passed away." 



F. 



THE TRUE REPUBLICAN DOCTRINE OF EXECU- 
TIVE APPOIi\TMKNTS. 

Extract from N. H. Patriot, 24 Nov. 1828. 

PUNISH THE DECEIVERS, BUT RECLAIM THE 
DECEIVED ! 

The magnanimous generosity of republicans towards their 
political opponents, exhibited in all times of prosperity of 
the people's party, desei\e> at this time tl e public conside- 
ration. That generosity was indeed calculated to promote 
an " era of good feeling;" and had it been met by a corres- 
ponding generosity on the part of our political opponents:, 
" good feelings" might have continued to the present mo- 
ment. 

But what has been the conduct of the old federal party 
under the mild and tolerant reign of republican principles I 
That party has turned the «:enf'rosity, the kindly feelings of 
republican.^ into an engine tor the destruction of republicans. 
That vindictive parlv has taken advantage of a pretended 
16* 



183 AFTF.yiDtX. 

" era oi gcod feelings" to introduce a system of unrelentiiig 
perpeciition and proscription, and to create the most bitter 
animosities among republicans and friends. 

We need only look back the short term of three years for 
conclusive proof of our position. What has been ihe con- 
duct of the old federal party in New-Hampshire? Samuel 
Bell came to this town June session 1827, and made proc- 
lamation that the " LINES WKRE KOw DRAWN," and that 
every friend of Gen. Jackson holding an oflice must be put 
out. Tliis signal from a former adherent of the federal par- 
ty was promptly answered by that party in a body ; and from 
that time to this, aided by the treaciiery of those nominal 
republicans holding offices, every republican who was either 
a candidate for office or who was in office, has been hunted 
down like a wild beast of the forest. All th.e bitterness of 
the black cockade party of 1798 — all the vindictive animos- 
ity of the " reign of terror" under John Adams, have re- 
turned under the restoration of the party which fell with the 
first Adams. 

But the days of the second Adams are numbered and fin- 
ished; and (he vindictive aristocracy of New-England has, 
in the late election, met a repulse, a defeat more signal and 
decisive than in the great election in 1800. — What shall be 
done ? Shall we again take to our bosoms the scorpions 
who have so repeatedly stung us ? Shall we again extend 
to them all that " good feeling" which is dueonly to friends ? 
Slsail we use our influence to elect and appoint to office, 
and to continue in office, the men who have made use of all 
the influence which such offices gave them to destroy the re- 
publican party, and to libel and abuse the bravest defenders 
and the purest patriots of the country ? Forbid it, our coun- 
try — forbid it. Heaven ! 

Thus far the running account between the federal and the 
republican parties — an awful account which the present 
generation of that party can never cancel, involving that 
breach of good faith, that violation of all the principles of 
common right and justice, that utter destitution of all the 
natural feelings of gratitude, which man wo-uld condemn in 
the brute : What shall we then say of those ungrateful men 
who to the sia of of ingratitude have added that of deep 
apostacy and treachery to the republican party ; who, not 
content with better treatment from the re|^ublican party than 
ever their deserts merited, have aimed a deadly stab at the 
paitv which had sustained them and taken some of theu^ 



f'-'.m the very mire of disgrace aucl bestoweJ (fii them honors 
i!id emoluments which tiie worthy ;iione deserved ? 

Thiit the most considerable portion of those men calling 
themselves republicans in this State who have thus far sup- 
ported the cause of the second Adams, did so from no un- 
worthy motive, we frankly admit. Many have been deceiv- 
ed by the reiterated falsehoods of the Coalition — many have 
not intended, although their exertions have had the direct 
eifect of doing it, to be instrumental in giving the ascenden- 
cy to the old federal party, and thereby introducing in thid 
State a second reign of terror. These men, finding gross 
deception practised upon them, will return to the fold from 
which they have strayed; they are but a small portion of 
th.e strength of the State — probably not one sixteenth of the 
legal voters; but they will be sufficient at our very next e- 
lection to give the Democracy of the State a triumphant as- 
cendency. The men in office, the twaddlers, the recreants 
from the republican party, who have practised every species 
of deception on the people — the men who hive circulated 
coffin handbills and other vile cahminies and T'lsehoods on 
the character of the republican candidate for the Presidency, 
will deserve a separate place from all others — as politicians 
they must and they will be execrated so long as they shall 
claim affinity to any party. 

Is it nov.- thought that "den. Jackson and the friends of 
Gen. Jackson, burying in immediate oblivion their deeds, 
will meet and treat these men as worthy of future confi- 
dence ? Can it be supposed, that Samuel Bell and the office- 
hunters who have joined him — the men in this State who 
proscribed and removed from office every individual friend- 
ly to Gen. Jackson — will again be received as republicans 
■worthy our confidence ? When John Bell came to take his 
place as Governor in June, as if desiring to conceal his 
shame, he stole into the town, and went the back way into 
the back door of the capitol; his first magnanimous act 
after taking the oath, was to dismiss a republican door- 
keeper who had fought the battles of his country ; thus e- 
vincing that although he had not courage to meet the people 
face to face, he was valiant to set the example of removing 
every independent democrat from office. 

Can it be expected that the republicans will hereafter 
cherish the vipers whose association has poisoned the re- 
publican party ? Is it the duty of republicans to continue 
in office those who have converted their offices into instru- 
mentg with which to oppress them '? Will it not be their 
16** 



183 APPENOIX. 

boiia;]en duty to cleanse ths Augean stable — to clear ?.\vay 
that mass of coniiption which h:is |.oisoned all our channels 
uf information ? 

Every State in New-England is now goverwed by the same 
aristocracy that ruled in 179S — that ruled during the late 
war. The republicans here are in a miuurity; but the late 
elections show them to be a glorious majority of the whole 
Union. A band of New-Engiand democrats have encoun- 
tered the dominant party at vast odds — they have suffered 
every species of persecution and contumely. Shall these 
men not be protected by the Administration of the people 
under Gen. Jackson ? If that Administration fail to extend 
this protection, then indeed v.il! it fail of one of the princi- 
pal objects for which tiie people placed tbem in power by at 
least two to one of the votes of the Union. 



MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE PENSION BILL, 

In Senate of United States, 27 April 1S32. 

The Pension Bill was taken up, the question being on the 
amendment exten<iing the provisions of the bill to those who 
fought in the Indian wars, in the northwest and southwest, 
prior to tiie year 17.95. 

Mr. ROBINSON moved, that the bill be re-ccmmitted, 
with instructions to substitute for the pensions proposed in 
the bill, donations of public land, in tracts not less than the 
eighth of a section, nor exceeding two sections, to oflicers 
and soldiers who served for six months, as militia or volun- 
teers., or in the regular army, during the war of the Revo- 
lution, or inanv wars prior to the year 1795. 

Messrs. FOOT, GRUNDY and WHITE addressed the 
Senate — 

Mr. HILL then rose, and spoke as follows : 

Mr. President : — I was much surprised at the ungener- 
ous manner in which the bill for the relief of a few of the 
surviving soldiers of the Revolution was treated, \Vhen it 
was first brought up for discussion in this House; and I re- 



APPENDIX. i . 

gt-?t still more to see it assuming the shape of a sectional 
q'iestion. The Senator finm South Carolina, [Mr. Hayiie,] 
has not, on this occasion done justice to his own character- 
istic canilor, when he says, that the bill of the Senate will 
embrace nearly the whols mass of the population in the 
country, who are of age to have been soldiers of the Re%'o- 
lution; he did Bot seem to treat the subject with his wonted 
fairness, when he left it to be inferred, ^hat the public mon- 
ey was to be bestowed on unworthy, undesjerving objects. — 
Let me assure the gentleman, that this is, by many patriots, 
considered a legitimate and fair subject of legislation — a 
subject on which there o; nnot be said to be even a division 
of opinion throughout a large section of the country. If 
Senators will not i er^pect this unanimous sentiment gn one 
subject, how can they claim, that an unanimous opinion in 
their section, on another subject, shall be regarded by other 
Senators ? 

We have heard much, since the commencement of this 
sessicn, of the State of South Carolina; some of ns have 
sympathized with her privations and sufferings, and have at 
least wished to relieve them. Indeed, Sir, South Car- 
olina has been directly relieved during the present session. 
A bill has been passed, in both branches of the Legislature, 
making that State a generous allowance for all her expen- 
ditures, not already reimbursed, incurred during the late 
war. That State had been previously allowed, it is to be 
presumed, all the existing laws would give her. The claims 
of otijcr States, for similar expenditures, have never been 
allowed. The State of New-Hampshire, a large portion of 
whose citizens from the dawn of the revolution to the close 
of the late war with Great Britain, have always been ready 
to shoulder their muskets and march wherever danger and 
duty called them, made expenditures during thr late war 
for which she has never preferred a claim to Congress; ma« 
ny of her patriotic townships voted money to pay these ex- 
penses without even calling on the State to reimburse them ; 
volunteer companies were raised and marched to defend the 
assailable points of the State ; those who could not go, con- 
tributed their money to pay the expenses of those who did 
go; and this without ever expecting to prefer a claim on the 
State or nation. These expenses never can be reimbursed, 
because they were not made a matter of charge at the time, 
and because they cannot now be identified so as to become 
items of claim. But for the sums actually paid under the 
authority of the State, New-Hampshire has never been re- 



190 \PPENDiX. 

imbiirgecl ; tl>e money actually expended and claimed was 
not all allowed. South Carolina h;is been j)aid all she claims 
fur similar services, principal and interest, during the pres- 
ent session; the bill does not state the precise sum she will 
receive — some say it is between one and two hundred thous- 
and dollars — others say it will be much more. Soi'th 
Carolina mu?t admit, that in one instance at least, the gem- 
eral government has been to her not only just but gener- 
ous. 

I care not, Mr. President, what p<-tt"of the"^ Union wiM 
derive the most benefit from a pension law providing for the 
comfort and relief of the soldiers of the revolution; be it 
north or south, it will be my pride and my pleasure that my 
voice and my vote have contributed to the passage of such a 
law. If it goes to the greater benefit of my immediate con- 
stituents, so much the better because they have better deser^ 
ted it; not that it were worse at all if other States have- a 
superior claim, and shall receive a larger amount. 

In my section of the country, there is but one opinion open" 
Jy expressed on this question ; and that is, that the soldiers 
of the revolution were never paid for their services, and that 
the present generation owe to the few survivors a liberal pro- 
vision. The public domain, now released from that portion of 
the revolutionnary debt which was funded, stands jjledged to 
the survivors of that revolution ; if the government has the title 
deed to that domain, the veterans who gained that title deed 
by'campaigns of blood and privation are virtually the own- 
ers. Much of the legitimate debt of the revohiti<in was never 
paid at all — was never even funded ; and of that portion 
which was funded, in nine cases out of ten, the soldiers suf- 
fered the depreciation, while the more wealthy — and some 
of them hostile to the revoliition itself— purchasing up these 
claims for a shilling in the pound, became the owners of that 
debt. In thousands of cases, such was the depreciation ot 
his pay, that with the kind of money he received, the soldier 
on his return home could not obtain a pair of shoes or a 
garment to Cover him, and was obliged to journey all but 
barefoot and naked. An immense portion of the debt of 
the revolution — more especially the expenses incurred by vol- 
unteers and militia, who wore not in the continental line — 
wa* swept oft' entirely by depreciation. The regular sol- 
diers were better paid than the militia and volunteers; 
and this is a strong reason why the latter shall now be in- 
cluded. 

I cannot say what might be my opinion or my vote were 



APPENDIX. 191 

tliis a subject now for the first time agitated. I am opposed 
to appropriations for any and every object — 1 am opposed to 
the pensioning system generally. 1 think when men work 
for the government for pay, either in a civil or military ca- 
pacity, the pay agreed on and expected at the time, is all 
the pay to which they are entitled. I would pension no man 
who has received his full amount of pay, except he shall have 
been disabled in the public service. But the case of the sol- 
diers of the revolution differs from all others which may hap- 
pen or can happen. 

In the first place, it is a matter of notoriety that they nev- 
er did receive the value of the pay to which they were enti- 
tled : they were paid in a depreciated currency. The most 
of them, who had families and property at homo, sacrificed 
their all, and returned from the army pennyless. A small 
portion of these, beginning the world anew, acquired prop- 
erty and maintained themselves comfortably: another por- 
tion struggled against poverty during the remainder of their 
lives;- but many, veiy many soon passed off the stage before 
they had realiisd the mighty benefits which this nation ac- 
quired from their exertions. 

In the second place, if it c^uld be admitted they did re- 
ceive the fidl pay stipulated, their case differs so much from 
any other case that can occur, that there is no danger the 
relief proposed by the bill, can be drawn into a pr:^r adent. 
There was then no government, except the arbitrary power 
which assumed to rule — that power claimed the right to make 
of us slaves and vassals. Resistance to this power was 
looked upon as treason; and unsuccessful resistance was 
certain of such a punishment as would have entailed degra^ 
dation and misery upon all then living, and upon UB their 
posterity. Tiie debt we owe to t!ie brave men who then 
took their lives in their hands, and marched to face an ene- 
my, more potent than any other nation of the world, can 
never be repaid . The public sentiment will bear us out in 
granting all they ask ; our generosity in other cases may de- 
serve the public censure — but generosity to the soldiers of 
the revolution will never be reprehended by a just and a mag- 
nanimous people. 

Althougli much is due to those bra\e men who have en- 
countered the Indian warfare in the west, since the revolu- 
tion, it is not right in my belief to unite them with those for 
whom relief is proposed in the present bill. Great as is my 
respect for the Senators who advocate surh a proposition, I 
cannot resist the conviction that its tendency i? cntircy to 



1S)'2 APPENDIX. 

defent the bill itself. I wish lite soldiers of tiio revolution to 
etand on their own merits; if a majority of the Legislature, 
taking their case ahjne, will not sustain them, I should Le 
unwilling to carry this bill hy bringing in any other interest 
to their aid. I mast consider every other vote in favor of 
any proposition to unite the two cases as having a direct 
tendency to defeat both . 

The country, for the first time is in a situation to do jus- 
tice to the soldiers of the revolution without exhausting the 
treasury, or adding to the burdens of the people. '^hey 
can receive all that is required, after proper deductions shall 
be made in the Tariff"; and the sum will be so small as 
scarely to be felt. It will not delay for a moment the en- 
tire payment of the public debt — it will slint no appropria- 
tion for any legitimate object. If it operate at i.ll, it will 
only leave a million less per annum, (andthit; decreasing in 
amount every succeeding year,) to be scrambled for and ex- 
pended on some canal or rail road, intended for the benefit 
of some favored sectional interest. 

I could wish, Mr. President, for the sake of an unani- 
mous expression in favor of this bill, that the remaining 
.«:oldiers of the revolution had been spread in equal propor- 
tion over the whole country. Could this be, I would wil- 
lingly yield for the North all the little advantage we shall 
receive if the bill pat-ses. This however cannot be. The 
new States cannot receive as much as the old States; nor 
can those old States which were the theatre of war in the 
last three or four years be entitled to as much as those 
States where the war commenced, and which turned out 
men through the whole revolut"on. Accident merely gives 
an advantage to the northern and middle of the old States. 
But this circumstance ought to have no weight. Go where 
it will, it cannot be called an unequal distribution. The 
men who receive it have been constant contributors to the 
public treasury; and they are of that class few of which 
have at any time been benefitted by the public expenditures. 
Referring to the State of New-Ilampshirc alone, whith has, 
as well in the war of the revolution as in the war of 1812, 
furnished as many men as any other State of her size and 
numbers, and more in proportion to her wealth, I can safely 
«ay that there has not been expended for her immediate and 
local benefit, teu cents to the dollar of what she has actually 
contributed to the public treasury. 

The amount of money which this bill will call from the 
treasury has been much mnonified: I ha\e heard it stated as 



APPE.VfUX. 193 

liigh as five inillions of dollars per annum. To give ponie 
color to this high amount, it has been said that the calctda- 
tions made when the first pension law passed were much 
exceeded by the actual expenditure. The calculations then 
Mere made without sufficient data. The existence of the 
several pension laws has unfolded facts and circumstances 
which can enable every one to make more accurate calcula- 
tions; and I must believe ihat the calculations of tiie Com- 
mittee cannot be very far from the truth. And even sup- 
posing those calculations fdl short one third or one half, the 
simi will amount to scarcely one fourth what has been pre- 
dicted; it will scarcely exceed what is this rear asked 
for the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, \\Iiile anoth- 
er equal amount is required for its powerful competitor, tiie 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in addition to a million already 
granted. 

T need not repeat the calculations contained in the reports 
of the Pension Committees in the Senate and House of 
Representatives — those reports have been printed and laid 
upon our tables. The facts and calcidations presented by 
the two Committees, although made for difTerent bills, are 
well agreed in the m;vin — neither of these reports author- 
ized the expectation that the amount necessary *.o be ap- 
propriated would much exceed a million of dollars per 
annum. 

The pension bill of 1818 had, on its face, authorized the 
revolutionary soldiers to entertain expectations which had 
never been realized ; thotis^ands of them had spent their time 
and their substance to procure the riccessary proofis required 
by the law and the construction put upon it by the Secretary 
of War — their money and their labor had been expended in 
vain — their applications l.ad been rejected. In many in- 
stances, of two neighbors living side by side, each equally 
requiring pecuniary aid from the country, ore had been 
pensioned and the other rejected. Other instancce had oc- 
curred where the soldier exercising a rigid economy had 
earned and secured some three or four hundred dollars, and 
was denied a pension, while his more improvident or more 
unfortunate neighbor who was worth a few dollars less was 
pensioned and placed in a condition which might be consid- 
ered enviable when compared with that of the other. 

The law of 1828 had pensioned all the remaining officers 
and soldiers of the continental line who were in service 
at the close of the war, without regard to the property they 
might possess; that law., as ntH as the law cf iSJS wt's par- 



194 APPENDIX. 

tial in its operations — it embraced some cases of merit, but 
it left other cases of greater merit untouched. 

The former legislation of Congress has authori/.ed every 
s-)ldier embraced in the present bill, to claim as a matter of 
right what this bill will give him. The decided expression 
of the House of Representatives at the last session had made 
it all but certain that this justice would now be d.sne, inas- 
much as the Senate had not then indicated any opinion ad- 
verse to it. What must be the feelings of these men on the 
extreme verge of life, if they shall now be denied what all 
our acts have conceded to be their right, and what the 
strong voice of public sentiment has accorded to them ? Let 
us not, at this late period — let not Congress, which has pre- 
sented us a gratuily to a distinguished and beloved /o7^«?ig-n- 
er for similar services what would make a hundred soldiers 
rich — now deny to oar native citizens that .small sum which 
will smooth their path to the grave ! Can we deny this boon 
to the few survivors without adding another item to the 
list which the enemies of our free institutions have register- 
el against us, as a proof thnt "Republics alone are un- 
grateful ? " 



H. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH AT A 

PUBLIC ni,\NER GIVEN HIM AT CONCORD, 

August, 1832. 

Mr. Presidknt and Gekti,emkn: — For the last 
twenty-five years it has been my lot to have been a mark 
for the public gaze; never, during the whole of that time, 
has it been my good fortune to please the men who have 
constantly <>pposed the democracy of the country — at no 
time have I been a favorite, or even conciliated the good opin- 
ion either of those who have always been at war with free 
principles, or of those who have vas ciliated between the 
parties for the sake of oiiice or the emoluments of office. 

r)ut daring the whole time I have been before the public, 
if I have never pleased the sticklers for aristocracy — if I 
have conciliated neither the " federalists" of 1809, the 
*' Washingtonians" and •' peace party men" of 1812, the 



APPF..N-D1X, 195 

'* no party men" of 1816, the "Adams men" of 1821, nor 
the Henry Chiy and American System men of 1S29, 'SO, '31 , 
'32 — I have always found among the honest Yeomanry of 
the Granite State, men whose friendship haa never quailed. 
Those friends were the bone and muscle of democracy 
twenty-three years ago — they were then the supporters of 
Tiiomas JefTerson and John Langdon. They are still the 
bone and muscle of the democracy, and they are now the 
supporters of Atidrew Jackson and the free principles con- 
tended for by the patriots of 1798. It gives me pleasure to 
meet at this festive board several of tliose old and steady 
friends, some of whom eveu participated in the scenes of the 
revolution which gave birth to our freedom, and all of whom 
have dei ived their principles from the fathers of that school. 
It gives me more pleasure to be able to say that I have en- 
joyed the uniform friendship, through good report and through 
evil report, of such men, than if I were able lo make the 
complacent declaration that Iliad never offended any body, 
because I had always treated alike the friends and the ene- 
mies of our republican institutions, and that I was at this 
moment as much the favorite and friend of the one as of the 
other. 

****** * 

There can be no mistake as to the identy of this party 
even under all the disguises it has assumed. The bitter op- 
ponents of the war. of 1812, in New-England, are now al- 
most to a man the most malevolent and unforgiving enemies 
of the administration of Andrew Jackson. Look around 
you, my friends: can you find in the State of New-Hamp- 
shire, so many as one hundred old federalists who opposed 
Jefferson and Langdon, and the war of 1812, who are not 
the enemies of the present administration, who, repudiating 
their old name oi federalists, do not now claim to be " Na- 
tional Republicans" and friends to Henry Clay and his 
" American System ?" 

It is the old party with a new disguise that would upturn 
heaven and earth to procure a change of the present admin- 
istration. This party at all times has with open arms re- 
ceived to its embrao.es the traitors to democratic principles: 
there never has been a time when some, of more or less con- 
sideration, have not been found joining their ranks. As an 
encouragement to such acquisitions, the party has bid high 
or low, according to its necessity. Of late years, the trait- 
ors to democracy have generally received the highest re- 
wards. In tliis' State, from 1824 to 1828, scarcely other 



196 AprKNoix,. 

than recreant democrats were by this party openiy nominated 
U) any office. It became, at length, a subject of complaint 
that while nine tenths of the rank and file of the party were 
old federalists, all the offices were filled by those who had 
formerly acted with the democrats. The federalists insisted 
on having a share; accordingly two of their most distin- 
guished leaders were placed on their nomination for Con- 
gress in 1829, v\hen the whole party fell into a minority 
of more than three thousand, which has since been in- 
creased to nearly ten thousand, leaving that part}' hope- 
less, except by art and mjjtnagemeiit they shall .succeed in 
fomenting dissension among the present adherents of de- 
mocracy. 

It must have been remarked by those who have watched 
the course of politicians in this country, that new converts 
evince more Zealand will go greater lengths than those who 
have steadily belonged to the same party. What men of 
the federal party are more violent at this time than those 
who went over to that party from our ranks, and who have 
been conspicuous in many of the public offices of the State 
for the few j'ears preceding the revolution of 1829 1 Sever- 
al of these remain in office whose terms have not yet ex- 
pired ; a.id not one of them, to my knowledge, hesitates to 
hold on to his office or to make use of its influence against 
the State and Nation.il administrations which have been 
.sanctioned by a large majority of the people. 

* "* * Standing as I do in the Senate 

alone from New-England friendly to Andrew Jackson — 
coming there in despite of a political intolerance as despe- 
rate and unrelenting as ever existed in this or any other 
country; it will not surprise you, gentlemen, nor my fellow 
citizens of New-Hampshire generally, to be informed that I 
neither entered the Senate on personal good terms with some 
gentlemen of that body, nor have my course of conduct or 
my votes been such as to conciliate their kindness or good 
wishes. It never was, and I trust in God it never will be, 
in me to compromise my principles or my duty to my con- 
stituents for the favor or good graces of any man. As hum- 
ble men in pretensions as myself can and do receive the per- 
sonal attentions even of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. 
I have not been the favorite or received the personal atten- 
tions of either : one of them has once deigned ti^ notice the 
'' still small voice" from the East, as the solitary individual 
in the Senate from that part of the Union opposed to his 



APPENDIX. 197 

aggrandizing schemes of bargaining for the votes of the 
People for the Presidency, and at another time has reproach- 
ed me for reading, as he said badly, extracts from his own 
speech against the Bank of the United States in 1811. The 
other, has preserved generally a dignified silence, content 
that the louder yelpersof his kennel from Maine and Dela- 
ware, (Holmes and Clayton,) whose low and blackguard 
eiforts were quite too indecent and too vulgar even to find a 
place in the most worthless opposition prints of the country, 
should set upon me. 

* * * * . * * * 

The opposition in Congress were highly incensed that 
their predictions of the bankruptcy and ruin of the Post Of- 
fice Department had not been verified. They supposed that 
such a result must necessarily follow from the increased fa- 
cilities that had been given to the transmission of the public 
mails, and the extraordinary expenses incurred by granting 
these facilities. They were mistaken — for although the 
great mail from Washington to New-Orleans had been ex- 
pedited to nearly double speed, and the mails to the other 
principal points of the Union in a similar ratio ; although 
the number of post offices had been increased one fourth, and 
the transportation from thirteen to fifteen millions of miles; 
the annual revenue was likewise increased in a ratio suffi- 
cient more than to cover all this expense, enabling the De- 
partment to extend still farther the mail facilities after the 
first of January next over more than twenty .thousand miles 
of new mail roads. 

As if determined to break down the Department, the plan 
to abolish newspaper postage was pursued with great zeal 
and ardor by the opposition members of the Senate. The 
newspapers already carried in the mail are probably as ten 
to one in weight when compared with letters ; while the 
revenue derived from them is less than as one to ten of the 
letters. The effect of aboHshing newspaper postage would 
have been to increase the weight of the mail four fold, ren- 
dering extra carriages necessary on all the great routes ; 
and the annihilation of nearly all the village newspapers in 
the country, making the business of publishing newspapers 
a monopoly to -wealthy men in the large cities. One of the 
Senators (Holmes of Maine) boldly avowed the object of the 
opposition Senators who unanimously voted for this bill to 
be the giving their newspapers at the seat of government the 
privilege of going free to all parts of the country, that they 
might break down tlris administration. He said the partiea 
17 



198 APPENDIX. 

Stood on equal ground durlrrg the sitting of Congress, for 
then one could frank as many newspapers as the other; but 
that the adrainiytration had the advantage in the public offi- 
cers franking during the recess. His remedy for this sup- 
posed advantnge was, abolishing newspaper postage entire- 
ly. Happily the proposition to break in upon the Post Office 
Department was ultimately defeated in the Senate by a sin- 
gle vote. 

******* 

Another prominent subject showing the utter recklessness 
of the leaders of the two branches of the opposition in the 
Senate, was the rejection of the President's nomination of 
Martin Van Buren to be minister plenipotentiary to 
Great Britain. 1 have recently been informed that when 
Mr. Webster received intelligence how certain vacancies 
were filled in the Senate in the course of the last year, he 
declared before he left Boston, that Mr. Van Buren's nom- 
ination would be rejected ! This previous declaration serves 
to unfold the duplicity of the man who in such solemn terms, 
when the nomination came to be acted on, declared his ab- 
horrence of party spirit, and who so feelingly portrayed his 
regard for the honor of "the country and the whole country" 
so deeply tarnished in the despatches which the President 
directed Mr. Van Buren to write to Mr. M'Lane ! 

There is not perhaps in the world a man of greater amen- 
ity of manners, a man of more personal civility, a man who 
in all social intercourse treats more alike both political 
friends and opjionents, than Mr. Van Buren. The men who 
were most embittered against him in the Senate, especiall)' 
Mr. Webster, had often participated in his hospitality and 
kindness; indeed it is scarcely a year since it was noticed 
in the opposition papers that Mr. Webster and Mr. Van 
Buren were arm in arm at the Springs and enjoying there 
in high glee each other's society. The heart of that man 
may be better conceived than described which could, in the 
absence of an intimate if not a personal friend, make a calcu- 
lation from the election of Senators how he might be per- 
sonally and politically prostrated, and afterwards carry that 
calculation into effect by feigning a reason which was any 
thing but a true reason, and by a coarse of caucus drilling 
and management such as would disgrace the veriest dema- 
gogue. No wonder, when Mr. Van Buren returned, the 
Senator from Massachusetts could not meet or look him in 
the face ! There is no object of so strong aversion, as the 
individual by another individual most injured. 



APPENDIX. 199 

The rejection of Mr. Van Buren has, however, had a ve- 
ry difi'erent effect from that contemplated by its authors, — 
Several weeks time were taken up in so arranging the votes 
of Senators as to effect his rejection — the three leaders, 
(Messrs. Clay, Calhoun and Webster) were incessantly en- 
gaged until the requisite number of Senators was secured — 
there was more than one honest man deceived. But after 
all, the efiort only went to disgrace those who made it — to 
arouse the spirit of the nation at the indignity which was 
ofi'ered to the President — and to unite the great democratic 
party throughout the Union on the most^suitable person for 
the second office in the government. 

******* 

I have thus glanced at some of the matters which have 
been the basis of the proceedings of one of the longest ses- 
sions of Congress since the adoption of the Constitution. — 
Condemning as I do the whole course of the opposition — be- 
lieving as I do their incentive to action was not a wish to 
promote the public good, but a desire to supplant the pres- 
ent administration and a determination to oppose its meas- 
ures right or wrong. I must attribute the obliquity to that 
esprit du corps which leads a mass of individuals to do that 
collectively, which separately, they could not be induced to 
do. With few exceptions, the members of the Senate who 
have acted with the opposition are amiable and exemplary 
in all their private relations, and preserve the character of 
gentlemen. . It is to be regretted that such men should feel 
themselves under obligations to follow in the wake of polit- 
ical leaders grown utterly desperate and reckless from cha- 
grin and disappointment that the people are no longer in- 
clined in them to place confidence. 

The man whose unbending integrity will not suffer him 
to look on corruption, on bargain and management, with 
complacency — who would not turn on his heel to save him- 
self in the most honorable office in the world — who shrinks 
not to discharge his duty and his whole duty come what 
will ; this man, standing in the way of ambitious dema- 
gogues who would cheat the people of their vjghts, in the 
way of monopolies, who would manage the wealth of the 
country and control its industry, is more than any other the 
object of present attention. By his friends he is admired 
with enthusiasm — by his foes he is contemned with loud ex- 
ecrations. 1 have seen this man at various times and in 
various situations ; I have seen him while under excited 
feelings, and i>i tlie scenes of calm and quiet enjoyment 



200 APPENDIX. 

He never speaka behind a man's back what he will not say 
before his face ; excited on any subject, he is one of the 
most interesting and eloquent men of the age. He aonvers- 
es freely, and on every topic discovers a profound judgment 
looking far into consequences, and an intimate knowledge 
of human nature. He is probably a greater if not a more 
learned Statesman than any other now living in the United 
States. And it may be fearlessly averred that no p.ublic 
man in America ever had a more thorough knowledge 
of every subject on v/hich he was called to act, than has 
President Jackson. I have never known a candid political 
opponent spend any time with him so as to listen to his 
conversation, who has not left him with the declaration that 
he had been entirely deceived in relation to his manners, 
his intelligence, and his general character. 

Mr. President, I have already taken up too much time, 
and have probably tired the patience of the company. In 
conclusion I will give as a sentiment, what, in my belief, 
will always distinguish the true from a false political faith : 

The doctrines practised by the Democracy of the Gran- 
ite State — A limited Government, State Rights, Rotation 
in Office, Economy in the public expenditures, no unneces- 
sary Taxation, and universal Liberty and Equality. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE 
LAND BILL, In Senate of the United States, 22d Jan. 
1833. 

****#*! must protest against the principles 
which are involved in the bill proposed to be amended. 

The original proposition presents itself as a direct appeal 
to the cupidity of the several State governments in which 
the people are supposed to have a nearer interest than in 
the General Government — it is an invitation to take and eat 
of the forbidden tree, with the assurance "thou shalt not 
surely die." 

The friends of a high tariff in the old States are supposed 
to advocate the bill, while the opponents of a high tariff in 
the old States oppose it. The interest of the tariff and an- 



APPENDIX. 201 

ti-tarift States, so far as relates? to the reception of the divi- 
dend proposed, must be the same. Money must be as ac- 
ceptable to tlie State of Georgia as to the State of Massa- 
chusetts. Why, then, does not Georgia seek the same dis- 
position of the public lands as does Massachusetts ? Geor- 
gia well knows that the proceeds of the public lands, ab- 
stracted from the Treasury, creates the necessity of raising, 
by taxation on the consumption of the country, an equal a- 
mount; and Massachusetts, in the same thing, fancies that 
this additional taxation goes so much for the protection of 
that class of her citizens who have invested capital in vari- 
ous manufactures. 

The idea is altogether fallacious, that the great mass of 
the people of this country can be benefitted by the division 
of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the 
several States. So long as the legitimate expenditures of 
the National Government exceed the amount of revenue 
raised from any other than public property, so long will 
such a division of the avails of the public lands among the 
several States lessen the burdens of the people not at all. — ■ 
We will see what will be the operation of this dividend on 
the State of New-Hampshire. 

It will be admitted by all to be bad policy to raise money 
in any government for the purpose simply of distributing it 
among those who have originally contributed it. The ex- 
penses of collection and distribution and the interest or use 
of the money raised during the term of the whole process 
are so much dead loss. The distribution of the avails of the 
sales of the public lands, so long as it is necessary to raise 
money by impost or otherwise, is still worse in principle 
than the taxation and the distribution to which I have allu- 
ded. It is worse to New-Hampshire and to all the States 
on the seaboard, because while those States receive less 
than their proportion from the public lands, they pay mere 
than their proportion of the taxes on imports to support the 
government . 

In the distribution of three millions of dollars, the propor- 
tion of New-Hampshire will be about sixty thousand. This 
sixty thousand dollars, augmented by the expense of collec- 
tion and the greater portion of duties paid by consumers on 
the seaboard than by those living far in the interior who 
consume less, will bring upon her an additional tax of at 
least one hundred thousand dollars; so that for every sixty 
cents received she pays out a dollar in new taxes. If an 



202 APPENDIX. 

individual in his own private affairs were to engage in such 
a speculation as this, he would be set down as a fool. 

But it is not the loss from the speculation itself that I so 
much deprecate — it is the demoralizing effect the dividend 
must kave on the healthy action of our State Governments. 
Where a State has incurred an enormous debt in attempting 
to make internal improvements in improductive roads and 
canals, the application of the dividend might be well appli- 
ed to discharge the interest upon an interminable burden 
which has been thrown upon such State ; and when thus 
applied would no longer be a subject of controversy; but in a 
State like New-Hampshire — r State which has been too poor 
to run herself millions in debt on splendid projects of roads 
and canals; a State whose hai'dy yeomanry have contrived 
to make tolerably convenient roads and to improve the nav- 
igation of their rivers without either running the State as 
such in debt, or asking Congress for appropriations ; in 
New-Hampshire this appropriation ofsixty thousand dollars 
annually — if indeed the whole proceeds of the public lands 
shall hereafter give her this as a dividend — would go to turn 
our State government topsy turvy. 

The State would never consent that any portion of this 
dividend should go for the purpose of colonizing free blacks 
in Africa . But if it was to be applied for objects of inter- 
nal improvement, there would be an annual scrambling in 
the Legislature that would keep up a constant warfare be- 
tween the different sections of the State. The West there, 
would have an interest in making improvements which would 
•arry away the business from the East ; the extreme North 
would turn her roads towards the State of Maine, and the 
South would draw them towards Massachusetts, while the 
only seaport, and commercial capital of the State would 
consider that she had a claim that all the money should be 
expended to bring the whole business of the State into her 
lap. The result would be, that the strong would combine 
and deprive the weak of their proportion of the benefits — 
that these benefits would be unequal — that new expedients 
would be resorted to to give the appropriation a different 
direction ; and that the State would be kept Irom year to 
year in a turmoil. Thousaads of dollars of the dividend 
would be expended in useless legislation, in contriving ways 
and means to secure some portion of the money. 

Projects of improvement would be started involving a 
greater expenditure than the land fund would warrant. — 
Som« bridge, or road, or canal, which had been begun and 
18 



APPENDIX. 303 

under-estimated — for what project of this kind, in its incipi- 
ent state, was ever estimated at half its cost 1 — must be 
completed ; the land fund from Congress fails. The State 
must hire money or raise additional sums by taxes to carry 
the improvement on. Where credit is good as that of a 
city corporation or State, loans may be effected, if not in 
this country, in Europe ; and posterity may have entailed 
upon it a perpetual tax to pay the annual interest on money 
applied to such improvements as will not afford even a suffi- 
cient income to pay for their own repairs. 

Is the land dividend applied to purposes of education ? it 
will then be a matter of dispute whether it shall go to a high 
school or a common school, to a college or an academy — to 
prepare the pupil for the pulpit or the bar, for surgery or 
physic — or whether males exclusively, or females, or both, 
shall be entitled to its benefits. 

If, Mr. President, the amount of dividend was so much 
gain to a State, the inconveniences that might arise from 
State legislation on this subject were not worthy to be nam- 
ed. But when it ia considered that the State has to con- 
tribute its full share, and to pay a larger tax to fill the va- 
cancy which the abstractioa of this dividend has produced, 
"folly with his cap and bells" could not appear more ridic- 
ulous than this project. 

Are the State Governments to be reduced to abject de- 
pendence on the treasury of the nation ? Are they to depend 
dti the breath and the favor of the two branches of Congress ? 
Are they to come here crouching for the means to enable 
them to educate their children, or to complete some great 
public improvement ; at the same time they are taxed in 
what they eat, drink and wear, to fill that vacuum in the 
national chest which has been produced by the donation ? 
Do you call this a gift, a favor, to any State ? 

It has become evident to my mind that we mnst either 
confine the Legislation of the Federal Government to the de- 
fined objects of the Federal Constitution, or present that 
continued collision between the National and State Gov- 
ernments which must end in consolidation, anarchy and ul- 
timate dissolution. I am of those, Mr. President, who be- 
lieve Congress is no less potent under the powers expressly 
granted to it by the people of the States than the legislature* 
of the States are by the powers granted them by the people 
of each State. Rightly practised upon, there is a beauty and 
A harmony in our Constitutions, forever assuring the libw 
dies of the j^ople. 



204 APPENDIX. 

The framers of the Constitution never intended that the 
National Government should raise money to be distributed 
among the State Governments, any more than they intended 
that the common funds of the General Government should be 
dissipated in splendid projects of internal improvement. — 
When Virginia ceded her title to the present States. and 
territory north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, "as a 
common fund" to dischaige the debts of the revolution,could 
it be believed it was the intention of the terms of the com- 
pact that at any future time the avails of those funds should 
be paid over directly by the General Government to the 
States of Massachusetts and Connecticut 1 

******* 

The extinctionof our national debt presents this nation in 
an attitude to excite the admiration of the world; there is 
probably on record no other instance of the kind. Now is 
the favorable time to put that practical construction upon 
the Constitution which shall confine the government within 
its acknowledged limits, and leave full scope for the States 
to act in their several spheres. It will be impossible that 
this government shall go on, if Congress shall permanently 
assume powers which the framers of the Constitution never 
intended to grant; such, for instance, as the right to make 
unlimited appropriations for internal improvements, for 
roads, bridges, and canals, by which the people of the sev- 
eral States are to be bought up with their own money. If 
this power be contested, as I trust it will be successfully, 
what shall we say of the right of Congress to divide any por- 
tion of the common funds of the country among the States 
for the same object 7 

* # * * 

It has been said in debate, [by Mr. Chambers,] that this 
bill has been hailed in all parts of the country, as a measure 
of justice, and that '*it is a just and equal distribution." — 
Just so far, and no farther, has this bill been applauded, as 
the "American System" and the desire to keep up the du- 
ties on articles of consumption at the highest point, have 
found favor. The legislature of Vermont, in the fear that 
her iron manufactures will not be protected if an enormous 
duty shall not be continued on that article necessary for the 
comfort and sustenance of the poor as well as the rich, has 
passed resolutions in favor of this land bill. An attempt 
was made to steal tinough the l^islature of New-Hampshire 
resolutions to the same effect the last evening of its last ses- 
;-ion ; but the resolutions were voted out of the House by 



APPENDIX. 



205 



nearly two to one. The legislators of that State had not for- 
gotten that their predecessors, so long ago as June 22, 1821, 
had resolved, that "any partial appropriation of the public 
lands for State purposes, is a violation of the spirit of our 
national compact, as well as the principles of justice and 
sound policy." 

******* 

For myself, Mr. President, I had rather the few thousand 
dollars which I possess in a manufacturing establishment 
should be sunk in the bottom of the sea than to see, not the 
Union rent in twain, for that "must and will be preserved" — 
but a spirit of hostility between the different sections of the 
country engendered and perpetuated in the repeated attempts 
of the stronger to take advantage of the weaker. To the 
threats of any State holding herself in a menacing attitude 
towards this happy Union, believing as I may that she has 
been impelled by politicians whose motives are any thing 
but commendable, 1 would not yield an inch ; so neither 
would I be prevented from prosecuting a course of right and 
justice to other patriotic States, because such a process 
would disarm the refractory even of a pretext for doing 
Avrong. The bill for dividing the proceeds of the public 
lands — inasmuch as it will furnish occasion for continuing 
millions of taxes on import? which might otherwise be dis- 
pensed with — inasmuch as it is one of the means to keep up 
a system calculated to promote public discontent and even 
threatens bloodshed and civil war — has my decided disap- 
probation. 



J. 



MR. HILL'S LETTER TO THE TYPOGRAPHICAL 
FESTIVAL, held at Concord, 28 Nov. 1833. 

Concord, N. H. Nov. IS, 1833. 
Gentlemen, — It would have given me great pleasure 
to be able to attend the Typographical supper on the 28th, 
to which your polite card had invited me. My public duty 
at the city of Washington requires that I should leave tov/u 
before *hat time. 

It is now nearly a quarter of a century, since just emerged 
flora an apprenticeship of seven years, in a country village 
18* 



2Q6 APPENDIX. 

printing office, I commenced the business of a practical 
printer in Concord. The greater portion of what little ed- 
ucation I have received, has been in the printing office; 
having never been to a sehool, of any sort, after the age of 
fourteen, and, up to that time, under the small means of in- 
struction affiarded in a rough, new settled town ; for nearly 
twenty years of early life, the whole time for study and im- 
provement had been taken from that usually devoted to rest 
or relaxation from severe personal labor. 

No inconsiderable share of the present prosperity of this 
flourishing village is to be attributed to the enterprise and 
industry of her printers and publishers. 

To them, perhaps, more than to any other profession, is 
it due that business from all parts of the State has particu- 
larly centred here; and of all the mechanical callings, it is 
believed that those connected with printing and the manufac- 
ture of books and newspapers are much more numerous than 
any other. When I first commenced here in 1S09, there 
were three small printing houses only, the whole united ap- 
paratus of which would be scarcely sufficient to print a large 
sized weekly newspaper of the present time. With the aid 
of a single journeyman and my eldest brother then under 
twenty years of age, the Patriot newspaper was printed 
weekly, and such jobs of printing as came in from custom- 
ers were executed in addition. The printing press I then 
had was one that had been used at Norwich, Connecticut,to 
print a newspaper of foolscap size, during the v/ar of the 
revolution ; and the types were a remnant of those which 
had been nearly worn out by Mr. Etheridge of Charlestown, 
in printing a quarto bible, &c. The whole expense of the 
office was about ^'300 ; and it was really worth, perhapa 
half that sum. My colleagues in the business, in this town, 
were the late veteran printer George Hough, and our friend 
Jesse Carr Tuttle, the latter of whom printed a rival politi- 
cal newspaper. Mr. Hough had a font of Small Pica, and 
about a hundred pounds of old brevier type; and he had a 
printing press not quite as rickety as mine, because he bad 
sold my predecessor the older one, and bought another that 
had not been used probably more than twenty years, and this 
constituted nearly the whole of his apparatus, lie very 
rarely had n^ore than one apprentice ; but he always worked 
himself when he had a job of printing on hand, and obtain* 
ed other occasional assistance. With the exception of my 
predecessor in the Patriot, William Hoit, Jr. who, 1 be- 
lieve waa an apprentice of his, Mr. Hough was one of the 



APPENDIX. 207 

most accurate and neat printers I have ever known. The 
former, to my knowledge, has repeatedly presented a proot" 
sheet of eight octavo pages without a single error. The lat- 
ter was proverbially moderate in all his movements; he was 
a politician of the ancient school, eschewing every thing 
that did not coincide with the doctrine practised by the fed- 
eral party thirty-five and forty years ago . We were always 
at swords points in our political opinions, contending each 
at or near the two extremes, but even dnring that time of 
great political heat, the years 1812, 13 and 14, we were 
personally on so good terms that we printed and published 
together, at either office, two large octavo volumes of Con- 
gressional documents and debates, he leaving to me, as I 
had been principally instrumental in obtaining the subscrib- 
ers, the selection of documents and speeches for publication. 
As for our other colleague printer, Mr. Tuttle, his also 
were the old Scotch types which had long been used by Mr. 
Hough, and nearly every thing done in his office was the 
newspaper; this was at first larger than the Patriot, and 
better supported with advertising patronage. His paper, 
the Concord Gazette, generally was conducted by a hired 
editor of liberal education, and had besides written contri- 
butions from most of the professional men on that side of the 
question in the town ; while the Patriot had no one to de- 
pend upon but the young printer, who lacked much the advan- 
tages of experience^ and, as all his opponents insisted, of 
the sonud discretion necessary to the proper management of 
a newspaper. It is true, we were always actuated by a zeal 
Avhich was scarcely ever at all restricted by considerations 
of personal interest ; but if our zeal has not been misdirec- 
ted more than half of the time, an honest motive must turn 
the scale in our favor. Our friend Tuttle generally had 
two or three apprentices and sometimes a journeyman ; but, 
for himself, he was never fond of the printing office. He 
was most at home in that business which is now and has 
been for years his occupation— a team of horses aud a snap 
of the whip were his delight. He did almost every thing 
and any thing with his horses ; and not having enough to 
do on his own premises, he teamed to help others carry on 
their land; and hence for more than twenty years he has 
had affixed to him the honorable appellation of Farmer 
Tuttle. About the time of the close of the late war he sold 
out his newspaper to a family of printers by the name of 
Spear; but in their hands the Concord Gazette did even 



208 APPENDIX. 

worse than in those of our Farmer, until it was finally dis- 
continued, leaving the Patriot the whole field. 

Such was the condition of our art in this place twenty 
years ago. At this time there are six different newspaper 
establishments in the village, and these constitute but a 
small portion of the printing done here. There are proba- 
bly more than twenty different kinds of school books stereo- 
typed and published here, some of which find a market at 
more than a thousand miles distance. I had the gratifica- 
tion to present the President and Vice President of the Uni- 
ted States and the Secretaries of War and Navy, who visit- 
ed this town last summer, with specimens of the fine Bible 
stereotyped and manufactured by Luther Roby & Co. and 
of the Christiau Harmony, a volume of Music published by 
Horatio Hill & Co. Specimens, the almost entire materi- 
al of which was produced here and which twenty years ago 
would have been thought wonderful if produced by the best 
artists in Europe. 

It is only necessary, gentlemen, that industry, vigilance 
and economy should be practised to continue the advance 
here of this, which is justly denominated the "art of arts." 
To the young men of Concord engaged in this profession T 
will say, "Go on, and prosper !" And for them especially 
will I ask leave to present the following sentiment : 

Employers and Employed. Not less honorable is the 
apprentice who labors than the master who is benefitted by 
that labor. Fidelity and industry in the one are the sure 
precursors of prosperity and success to tiie same person 
when he shall arrive in the position of the other. 

I am, gentlemen. 

Your obedient servant; ISAAC HILL^ 

Messrs. E. G. Ea.stman, 

Amos Head, ^ Committee. 
W. Odlin, 



A1?PENDIX. 209 

K. 

EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE 
REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSI'lES, In Senate of Uni- 
ted States, 3d and 4th March, 1834. 
It is believed, however strong may be the doubts of the com- 
mittee, against the Batik seeking for political power, that 
there are millions of the people of America, who have no 
doubts on the subject. They understand the definition of the 
offence, "what acts constitute it" — "how it should be tried" 
— "who is to be the judge" — and what "shall be the pun- 
ishment." And although the commitete think the charge 
too general too be either proved or disproved, they want 
no stronger proof than the admission of the party criminat- 
ed. The directors of the Bank in their pamphlet which 
has been laid on the tables of the Senators, in justilfication 
of the many thousand dollars of the funds of the Bank ex- 
pended in political publications, say: "This has been done 
with regret that it should be necessary, but with the strong- 
est conviction of its propriety, and without the slightest 
wish to disavow or to conceal it. On the contrary the Bank 
asserts its clear right to defend itself equally against those 
who circulate false statements and those who circulate false 
notes." And, although they deny that their object in pay- 
ing an amount for political publications unparallelied even 
by the expenditures of any mere political party in this coun- 
try, has extended beyond self defence, it is abundantly man- 
ifest from this pamphlet itself, that they consider misrepre- 
sentation and crimination necessary to effect that object. — 
The Bank has poured out its funds through its agent, who 
is not limited in the amount of his expenditures, in the most 
profligate manner to partisan printers. It is said one edi- 
tion of seventy-five thousand copies of a single newspaper, 
printed at New-York, containing this report of the direct- 
ors, and other offensive matter, have been lately circulated, 
evading the postage by addressing them to postmasters. It 
is also said that three or more editions of fifty thousand 
speeches, made since the commencement of the present ses- 
sion of Congress, printed on fair large type, at the expense 
of the bank, in one or more of which the Executive Head of 
this government is abused in unmeasured terms — have been 
circulated far and wide at the public expense. 

If the friends of the Bank are in real doubt whether or 
not the Bank owns presses, and carries on the business of 



210 APPENDIX. 

party political mauagement on an extended scale, the mass 
of the citizens cannot but be convinced of a fact of wiiicb 
many pereons have ocular demonstration. 

******* 

But, Mr. President, my present object is to notice the 
panic and agitation produced by the distress for money 
which is felt in the commercial cities of the union. What 
has produced that distress? Both the friends and the foes 
of the Bank have admitted that the Bank, wielding a capi- 
tal of thirty-five millions, and controlling the pecuniary 
means of debtors to twice the amount of that capital, can 
produce temporary distress. This fact admitted, the only 
question is, has the Bank taken those measures which are 
calculated to produce distress ? 

That the Bank can produce temporary distress at a given 
point, has been abundantly proved by the conduct of its 
branch at the commercial capital of New-Hampshire, in 
1829. Very little of the capital of this Bank has ever been 
owned in that state. Three hundred thousand dollars were 
sent to that town, and loans to the amount of perhaps half a 
million of dollars were urged upon that community at a time- 
when there was abundant capital in the State Banks for all 
the legitimate business of the town and its vicinity. This 
made money so easy of attainment, that men who had a 
little money and some credit, were induced to take more 
money from the Branch Bank and invest it in manufacturing 
establishments. After the Tariff law of 1828 had passed, 
the manufacturing stock fell, in many instances sinking the 
whole investment, so that where the Bank had had no other 
security,bad debts were made, and where collateral security 
was given, those who hired the money, and their sureties 
became the sufferers. A large portioa of the business men 
were stripped of their all, and the Bank lost in bad debts 
some eighty thousand dollars. 

To improve the aft'airs of that Branch, it was recommen- 
ded that its management should be placed in the hands of a 
great Bank attorney, with an addition of some fifteen hun- 
dred dollars per year to the salary of its former President. — 
This Bank attorney, ignorant of tho wants of the men of bu- 
siness, as he was ot what was the true interest of the Bank, 
took it into his head because the Bank had made bad debts 
from speculators in the State, that the substantial men of 
business who remained, ought no longer to be trusted, and 
in violation of the terms of payment on which loans had 
been made, called on all the customers of the Bank to pay 



APPENDIX. 211 

four for one of what they were required to pay by the im- 
plied terms of their first contract. Preceding even this, he 
made a loan to a single house in Boston of nearly a hundred 
thousand dollars at one time, drawing the specie from the 
local banks, whereby they were for the moment unable to 
furnish the relief which they otherwise might have done. — 
The customers of the Branch Bank were pressed, they in 
turn pressed others, the specie which was the substratum 
of the entire currency, was abstracted, and the expansion 
and contraction of the United States Bank paper credit a- 
ione might be set down as the sole procuring cause of the 
distress and embarrassment which followed. It was this 
arbitrary breach of faith with the customers of the Bank 
that induced the mevciiants and men of business of all par- 
ties to petition for the removal of the man who had caused 
the distress. The present Secretary of the Navy, then a 
resident of Portsmoudi, and myself, were the organs of the 
wishes of that community . Mr. Woodbury wrote the Sec- 
retai-y of the Treasury, expressing the dissatisfaction of the 
citizens at the conduct of the offending officer, and request- 
ing the influence of that department to assist in correcting 
the evil; and T wrote two gentlemen of Philadelphia, en- 
closing for the president of the bank the petition of "sixty 
respectable members of the New-Hampshire Legislature," 
and another petition subscribed "by most of the business 
men, merchants at Portsmouth, without distinction of par- 
ty," requesting that the cause of the trouble might be remov- 
ed — that a board of directors of mixed political character, 
(instead of a board exchisively hostile to the state and na- 
tional administrations) should be delegated for the year 
which was about to commence, and that the "institution in 
that State may not continue to be an engine of political op- 
pression by any party." These were my words, and a most 
disiflgenuous use was made of them, and of the petitions 
which they covered, by the President of the mother Bank, 
who not only exposed these petitions to the derision of his 
agent, but justified and retained that agent in office, till by 
tlie force of public opinion, he left both the office and the 
State. 

The oppression and contumely heaped upon the citizens of 
Portsmouth didnot end the affair. This isolated transaction 
is made, in a publication bearing the sanction of Nicholas 
Biddle and eleven directors of tlie Bank at Philadelphia, at 
a meeting on the 3d December, 1833, the ground of a weigh- 



2l2 APPENDIX, 

ty charge against the administration. The pamphlet charg- 
CB as follows : 

" It was in the midst of this career of inoffensive usehil- 
ness, when soon after the accession to power of the present 
Executive, the purpose was distinctly revealed that other 
duties than those to the country were required — and that it 
was necessary for the bank in administering its affairs, to 
consult the political views of <hose who had now obtained 
the ascendancy in the Executive. It is understood that soon 
after thai event a meeting v;as held in Washington of 
the principal Chiefs, to consider the means of perpetua- 
ting their new authority, and the possession of the Bank 
was among the most prominent 'objects of the parties as- 
sembled. The first open manifestation of the purpose was 
in June, 1829, when a concerted effort was made by the 
Executive officers to interfere in the election of the Board 
of Directors at Portsmouth." 

When and where was this meeting of "principal chiefs" 
in the city of Washington to get "possession of the Bank?" 
The charge can be but the mere coinage of the brain of one 
who had doubtless often consulted the will of other "princi- 
pal chiefs" as a guide to what should be his own course of 
action in future "fair business transactions." To give such 
a clnrjre even an air of probability, it ought to have been 
followed by some consequences of a more marked official 
character, than letters from Mr. Woodbury, then not con- 
nected with the Cabinet, and myself, representing the wish- 
es of an oppressed and injured community in the distant 
State of New-Hampshire. If it had been the object of the 
"principal chiefs" to lay hold of the bank, and convert it 
to political purposes, the Secretary of War would not at 
that time have attempted, for the accommodation of the cit- 
izens of thit Pate, to remove the funds (o pay pensioners 
from the vaults of that Bank to another >?*3te bank of more 
convenient location. At no time have the friends of the ad- 
ministration manifested a desire to convert the Bank of the 
United States into a political engine, or to take it under 
their exclusive control. 

******* 

Mr. President, there never was a time more propitious 
than the present for the Bank of the United States to com- 
mence the "winding up of its concer.is." Tf the directors 
of the Bank understood the true interests of the institution, 
they would commence the work with alacrity; and they 
would find that a course of mildneea and accommodation 



APPENDIX. 213 

woiikl be far more salutary to the Bank than the opposite 
course, which they now are pursuing. This, however, does 
not seem likely to be the case from present appearances. — 
Recent advices from the city of New-York, leave us to infer 
that the Bank has determined we shall not "havk peace, 
BUT THE SWORD." The directors of the branch Bank at 
that place have not only refused to unite with the local banks 
in attempting to relieve the distresses of the community ,but 
they have refused to have it understood that they will not 
run upon State Banks for specie the moment these last shall 
discount for the purpose of relieving individuals; and these 
directors assign for their belligerent aspect the reason of 
their peculiar relations at this time with the Government ! 
Those peculiar relations we are left to infer; and these we 
may safely say to be a determination to force the return of 
the deposites, and with that a re-chartering of the Bank. — 
Indeed we have it announced in the known organ of the 
Bank (the National Intelligencer) in this city, that the Bank 
will never consent either to take any steps for the relief of 
tho community itself, or suffer the State Banks to do it, un- 
til the State Banks selected by the Secretary of the Treasu- 
ry as places of deposite, shall themselves ask to have the de- 
posites taken from them, and restored to the United States 
Bank ! Here the People and the State Banks have their 
choice of the only alternative. The State Banks must be 
destroyed, and the distress kept up so long as the means to 
do it can be furnished by the Bank of the United States; or 
else the Government, the People, the State Banks, must 
consent to UNCONDITIONAL SUBMISSION and DE- 
GRADATION ! This looks so much like the conditions and 
requirements of a certain New-England conclave twenty 
years ago, wdio sent a mission to Mr. Madison, demanding 
of the Government to submit uncenditionally to such terms 
of peace as Great Britain might grant, that I have about as 
much faith that the one will be attended with success as the 
other. 

I readily and freely admit, that in the vicinity of the mo- 
ther Bank and its branches, more than common pecuniary 
distress does now prevail. There they have put on the 
screwa ; and where the Bank had made extensive loans the 
pressure is felt — where the people have been so fortunate as 
never to have had the benefits of the Bank's capital, there 
is very little distress. It is the extension of loans and their 
sudden contraction which produce revulsions in trade — it is 
the fcicilities of credit suddenly caught up that cause the 



214 APPENDIX. 

distresa. That the Bank can expand or contract — that it 
can at any time make money plenty or scarce where it has 
an exclusive operating capital, or wherever it can coacen- 
trate its operation, is true; and being true, lurnishes the 
strong conclusive reason why I would never place the power 
again in its hands. With the strong expression of the peo- 
ple against the Bank, manifested in the triumphant election 
of General Jackson, I should consider myself a traitor to 
that people, now to vote in favor of continuing the odious 
monopoly. Wherever there is a branch of this Bank, there 
we find an attempt to oppress. Ever since the Hegira of 
Mr. Biddle's attorney-agent from New-Hampshire, the bu- 
siness of the Branch in that State has been small; from 
1829 to ISSO, the branch did not do sufificient business to 
pay the salaries of its officers — that is, the amount of inter- 
eat on its loans was not enough to pay the salaries of its 
President, Cashier, clerks and waiters. But the little 
branch there, is contributing its mite to do what the parent 
Bank ref|uires. A recent letter from an intelligent gentle- 
man at that place says : — 

" You know that it is my great desire, that the monster 
which has so long held the purse strings of the nation should 
be prostrated, and no longer be permitted to tyrannize over 
other monied instutions. The monster seems however, de- 
termined to die hard, and do all the mischief in its power 
before it expires, putting on the screws with all its might. 
Even the little branch here is doing all it can to "make the 
people feel," as tliey term it, by withholding discounts and 
getting hdld of the bills of the State Banks in this town, 
and holding them in a menacing attitude, preventing our 
diseounting ti the extent we otherwise could." 

In the interior of the State, among the mass of the peo- 
ple, but little pressure is felt. The larger portion of these 
people are men who never ask for a bank favor — who rely 
at all times on their own resources, and who of course would 
prefer a hard money currency to any other currency. They 
do not believe that United States Bank notes are any better 
as a currency than their own State Bank notes ; and gladly 
would they see the flood of paper circulation superseded by 
silver and gold. 

* * a * * *■ * 

On yesterday, I examined the report of the Committee 
Finance, and attempted to show that neither the facts nort e 
inferences of that rejiort were sufficient to invalidate the 



APPENDIX. 215 

reasons of tlie Secretary of the Treasury for the remsval of 
the deposites. 

I attempted to show that the allegation ie untrue, that ef- 
forts are making to array the prejudices of the poor against 
the rich, to the injury of the Bank. 

I attempted to show that one of the present fast and influ- 
ential friends of the Bank presented, fourteen years ago, 
such an array of facts and inferences as demonstrate most 
clearly, that those who then opposed and now support the 
Bank, are condemned from their own mouths. 

I attempted to show that the present party opposed to the 
administration, have for a long time been panic-makers, 
whenever, out of place and power, they could invent any 
plausible pretext for creating excitement. 

I attempted to show that the branch Bank in New-Hamp- 
shire, in 1829, and previous, played the same game of ex- 
pansion and curtailment that is now playing by the mother 
Bank and its branches in all parts of the United States, and 
that although it succeeded in bringing ruin on some, it failed 
to make itself popular or acceptable to the people of New- 
Harapshire. 

I challenged the proof to the charge made by the Direct- 
ors of the Bank in their publication of December last that 
the "principal chiefs" of the administration had a meeting 
in this city in 1829, for the purpose of concerting measures 
to make the Bank a political engine; and have disproved 
that charge so far as strong presumptive evidence could 
disprove it. 

1 have shown that the Bank itself voluntarily put the 
question of re-charter or no charter on the result of the last 
Presidential election ; that it took this position from choice, 
and put all its means, without limitation, into the contest, 
interfering and attempting to influence the elections to the 
full extent of its ability ; and that the Bank now stands in 
the position of that individual who should propose his own 
terms — make his own bargain ; and after he should have a- 
vailed himself of all the privileges of his own terms, should 
insist that a decision should go for nothing, because it had 
been discovered that the right belonged to the other party; 
and claim a new trial by a tribunal which the people (the 
opposite party) never had sanctioned. 

I have shown that the Bank has wantonly, and with mal- 
ice aforethought, contrived the means which should break 
up the currency of the country, and destroy the facilities of 
trade and exchange; and that within the last six months it 



216 APPENDIX. 

has premeditated embarrassment and ruin to the trade of 
the country; that, through distress and suffering, it might 
force on the People what it could not obtain by a fair use 
of its capital and influence. 

I have shown that a great portion of the suffering and pe- 
cuniary distress have been caused by over-trading and an 
inflated paper credit ; and that this distress could at any 
time be produced by the Bank, whenever its owners and di- 
rectors should feel it to be for their interest to bring the dis- 
tress into operation to further their purposes. 

I have shown that the pecuniary distress has not been 
confined to the United States. That it preceded, and was 
more severe in the British Provinces on the North, and in 
the West Indies, than it is in this country; and that it is 
even felt to a considerable extent in Great Britain, where a 
National Bank had just been re-chartered ; from which facts 
it may fairly be inferred, either that the present distress 
would not have occurred at this time if the United States 
Bank had not wantonly produced it, or that we might have 
had partial distress, with the exercise of the best disposi- 
tion on the part of the Bank. 

I have shown, that in New-England, the sound state of 
the currency is not at all dependent on the United States 
Bank — that the local banks there regulate the currency. I 
have also shown that that the prices of the farmers' produce 
have there been higher within the last two months than they 
have been at any corresponding period for several years — 
that where there has been no overtrading, there is no un- 
common pecuniary distress; and that the great mass of the 
community are better oft' in a pecuniary point of view than 
they had before been for many years. 

9(1 4f if ^ * * * 

The peojde of my State, at every successive election, have 
sanctioned the veto of the President of the Maysville road 
bill, and thus declared that Congress has not the constitu- 
tional power to make appropriations for roads and canals, 
or any other mere object of local improvement. 

The same people have sanctioned the veto of the Presi- 
dent on the bill re-chartering the Bank of the United States, 
believing that institution to be '-one of the most deadly hos- 
tility existiug against the principles and form of our Con- 
stitution," inasmuch as it possesses, "in time of war the 
power to dictate to the nation the peace it should accept, or 
to bankrupt the government by withdrawing its aid," and 
inasmuch, in time of peace, it has proved itself of sufficient 



APPENDIX. 217 

power to agitate the wholt? country, to break in upon the 
Jbundations of its great busines?, and to threaten its entire 
mercantile relations, with derangement and ruin. 

Tlie .same people Iiavc sanctioned all lionest efforts to re- 
duce the taxes on impoits, and have discountenanced tiie 
idea that our agriculture and manufactuiies can thrive and 
flourish only w lien the government shall secure to them a do- 
mestic monopoly by ojipressive taxation. As they have op- 
posed high taxes for protection, so they are opposed to those 
profuse expenditures which render high taxes necessary. — 
They have .seen, not without regret, the disposition of the 
two last Congresses, to increase the public expenditures; 
they believe that millions are little better than thrown away 
which have been appropriated to objects of professed im- 
provement; they do not l)elieve it necessary for the welfare 
or prosperity of the District of Columbia, in addition to the 
immense amount paid in salaries and improvements of the 
public property, that there .shoi\ld be from five hundred thou- 
sand to a million of dollars anuHally appropriated to keep in 
repair or build her roads, l)riilgcs, and canals; they do not 
believe that two or three hundred thousand dollars should 
be appropriated annually for the benefit of printers employed 
to oppose and vilify the people's President and the people's 
administration. In short, the people of iVew-Vlampshire 
have often expressed, and will continue to express the opin- 
ion, that the General Government should confine its a<;tion 
to the objects specified by the con.4itution ; tliat strict econ- 
omy should be exercised in the public expenditures; that no 
taxes should be imposed for protection, believing that com- 
munity the best protected, which is the lightest taxed. 

The same people have ever looked upon the two ex- 
tremes — extremes which seem recently to have embraced 
each other — of consolidation on the one hand, and nullificar 
tion of the constitution on (he oiher, with ecpial abhorrence 
and disgust. They believe there is a redeeming power in the 
ballot-boxes of our country, in the intelligence and good 
sense of the whole people of the United States, not only to 
furnish a corrective for all encroachments upon State Rights, 
but to secure the execution of laws constitutionally enacted, 
whenever any minor body of the people shall attempt to re- 
sist them. 

George Washington saved his country by his great pru- 
dence and forecast, especially in the winter of 1776-7, when 
a general despondency had taken hold of the people, and 
when, almost destitute of means, and with bnt the skeleton 

19 



218 APPENDIX. 

of an army, composed of men reduced taekeletona by priva- 
tion and suffering, he planned and executed the glorious vic- 
tory of the 25th Dec. at Trenton. 

Andrew Jackson also grasped the drovkrning honor of his 
country — shall I say, saved his country from impending ru- 
in — by his prudence and forecast — by that mighty energy of 
mind which could create the means where the most of human 
kind would deem it impossible, and which stilling the clam- 
ors and caballing of treachery, converted a mass of the most 
incongruous material? into a formidable bulwark of defence; 
and what is still more matter of wonder, from these mate- 
rials furnished the means of annoyance and death to an at- 
tacking army, which was the flower and pride of the enemy, 
in the great victory at New-Oilean?, Jan. 8, 1815. 

George Washington jjreserved the Union from the incen- 
diary machinations of the Eastern foes to our republican 
confederacy, terminating in the abortive treason of the 
Hartford Convention, by that immortal legacy which enjoin- 
ed it as our duty to "frown indignantly on the first dawning 
of any attempt to alienate one portion of the country from 
the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred tics which bind its sever- 
al parts." 

Andrew Jackson also preserved the Union against the 
attempts of fomenters of mischiefiat the South, who, seizing 
the occasion of supposed oppression, taught an honest but 
deluded people, that no allegiance was due the constitution 
of our national government; he saved it, by energetically 
and promptly practicing in the winter of 1832, on the sen- 
timent first uttered from his own lips, and which has since 
been responded by millions of. freemen ; " The Union — it 
must be preserved .'" The bold and resolute stand which 
he then took, caused a fearful trembling among those who 
l)ad threatened breaking down the confederacy, and forced 
them to retreat ingloriously from the field under the cover of 
a fire from those who had been the source of their complaints, 
and finally into the very arms of the party wdiich had been 
the author of the oppression of which they complained. 

Thomas Jefferson by his example and his doctrine, res- 
tored the constitution to its true reading, and expelled the 
corruption and abuse of power which a party in this coun- 
try, obtaining an ascendancy have been wont to exercise — 
he confined the operations of the general government to its 
legitimate purposes — he opposed lavish appropriations and 
unnecessary expenditures — he was an enemy to high taxa- 
tioHj Hnd to interference with the rights reserved to the 



APPENDIX. 21^ 

States — he invariably removed from office those imbitteretl 
partisans who opposed his administration and the popular 
principles of the country. He considered the national bank 
to be an institution of the "most deadly hostility" to "the 
principles and form of our constitution," and had a bill, 
chartering the bank, passed both houses of Congress, there 
cannot be a doubt he would have placed upon it hia veto. — 
For his strict democratic principles, for his enthusiastie at- 
tachment to the rights of the people, for his strong and 
lasting hatred to oppression of all kinds, no man has been 
more abused and vilified than was the illustrious apostle of 
American liberty. 

Andrew Jackson under a system of increasing corruption, 
has again attempted and is now laboring to restore the con- 
stitution to its original reading. He has set his face against 
corruption and abuse of power. He would confine the pub- 
lic expenditures to the legitimate objects of the constitution. 
He would relieve the people from unnecessary taxation, and 
he would prevent all encroachments on State rights. He 
has removed from office some of the embittered partisans 
who deride his principles and his administration. Better 
than all, he has had the moral courage to take upon himself 
the sole responsibility of vetoing the charter of a bank of 
the United States, and has thus preserved the country from 
that blighting curse, a moneyed corporation, "possessing in 
time of war the pov/er to dictate to the nation the peace it 
should accept," and in peaca the power at any time to pro- 
duce extended pecuniary distress. And scarcely less than 
was the illustrious apostle of liberty, is the name of Andrew 
Jackson held up to reproach by the party which has ever 
been opposed to free principles. 

More than either Washington or Jefferson has 
Andrew Jackson been successful in his administration 
of the department of foreign relations; there is no govern- 
ment in the world having intercourse with our own, that 
does not repose in him all the respect that is due to upright 
exertions and honest intentions; and his known decision of 
character has aided the peculiar situation of this country, 
to prove those concessions of right for his administration, 
which had been denied to all others; and truly may it be 
said that not only has Jackson filled the place, in the field 
and the cabinet, of both Washington and Jefferson, but that 
he has gone beyond them both in securing for the nation, 
the confidence and resj)ect of all the principal kings, prin- 
ces and potentates of the world. Hereaft«r shall his fame 



iI20 Ari'EiS'Pix. 

be tiaiiscfctided h^ l)Ul tew men whose decdk lidve .-lied lus- 
tre upon their species. 



L. 



EXTRACTS VlUm MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE 
POST OFFICE, 111 Senate of United States, II June, 
1834. 

I had foreseen, Mr. President, from the commencement, 
^"at an attack was to be made, during the present session, 
^n the Post Ofiice Department. Circumstances had forced 
that Department into a position, that, whether culpable or 
not, blame might be imputed to its managemant : and that 
obli<juity which has never tired from the daj' and hour Presi- 
dent Jackson came into office, until the present day and hour, 
in blaming every act of his administration, would not let this 
session slip without presenting more "gorgons and chimeriis 
dire " on the subject of the Post Office. 

***** # 

When the complicated machinery of this great establish- 
ment is considered, the wonder is, how it should get on at 
all. We seem scarcely to be aware, when the mail enables 
us to converse every day with our friends, at the distance of 
five hundred or a thousand miles, carrying and fetching eom- 
munications at the rate of a hundred miles a day, that the 
insignificant amount we pay in postage on a letter or news- 
paper, is the whole tax which is imposed on the community 
for the privilege. Yet how heavily are the people taxed for 
each and every operation pertaining to the War and Navy 
Departments! Nay, those very Departments, themselves a 
direct tax in every thing else on the public treasury, are 
saved hundreds of thousands annually, by fiee commu- 
nications received through this very Post Olhce Depart 
ment. 

* * * * * » 

The present condition of the Department ought not for a 
moment to be a matter of sni prise, when it is considered 
that, in addition to the enormous burden thrown on it by 
the act of Congress of 1832, which established many dious- 
and uiileto of new post roads, all the facilities asked for by 



APPENDIX. 221 

tiie citizens, and especially those urged by members of Con- 
gress, as well for increasing the speed of the mails, as for 
adding to the number of times of transmission, have been 
granted up to the time of an ascertained deficit to tke i*e- 
ceipts. The fault of the Post Master General (and I am not 
disposed to deny this to be a fault) has been that he has done 
every thing to accommodote the public, and thought too lit- 
tle of the means that were to accomplish it. 

It is mentioned with exultation, that the " Department is 
entirely and hopelessly insolvent;" and a Senator (Mr. 
Clayton) yesterday took to himself great credit fur having 
said three years ago that the Department either was then, 
or soon would be bankrupt. The Senator knows full well 
what party was in the ascendent during the last Congress. — 
So far as the action of Congress has been considered, there 
can be little doubt of a deliberate design formed to throw 
embarrassments on the Department. Suppose the plan had 
succeeded for abolishing newspaper postage, which was 
pushed with so much zeal in this body two years ago ! Does 
any one believe that the Department could have gone on, sup- 
porting the additional burden which that act would have 
imposed ? And yet the surreptitious introduction, at the 
close of the session of Congress two years ago, of a clause 
into an appropriation bill, extending the franking privilege 
to members of Congress for the whole year, and making that 
the permanent law, can be regarded in no other light than a 
predetermined intention to throw embarrassments in the 
way of the Department. The public have no correct no- 
tion of the extent to which this franking privilege is carried, 
covering not only the correspondence of members themselves, 
but that of their friends at home and abroad. These free 
letters are not only carried without charge, but the Post- 
master is entitled to a compensation of two cents on each 
free letter delivered; and a single post oftice in one of the 
western States has been named to me, which, before this 
franking privilege was exten ^ed, yielded to the Depart- 
ment ai the rale of twenty or thirty dollars per annum, 
which, since that extension, has actually brought the 
Department in debt to it some sixty or seventy dollars a 
year. 

The same Senator (Mr. Clayton) says he entreated the 
Chairman of the Post Office Committee to assist him in ar- 
resting the downward state of things in the Post Office De- 
partment! I would be glad to be informed what measure 
that gentleman has ever proposed or advocated calculated 

19* 



222 ApP£iNDiX. 

to Itasei) oi pieveiil tlio exfienses ol' lliiil DejtaiUuciit. If the 
fault-findiiig f|>'uit exliibited by the gentleman towards it, hat> 
coiitiibiited at all in preventing eriibarras.sment to the De 
partment, the gentleman oughl to have due credit for all hi? 
labors of love towards it. 

* * * * * * 

From the year 1810 to [he year 1829, 1 was a contractor 
I'nder the Dej)artment to carry a number of mails in the 
State of New-Hampshire. At no time, I believe, did these 
contracts exceed the sum of three thousand dollars per an- 
num. Contracts were issued to me under Mr. Granger, Mr. 
Meigs, and Mr. M'Lean. In no instance, under either of 
these gentlemen, did 1 ever obtnin a contract but on ternus 
of fair competition ^^\^\l all other biilders. The circum- 
stance of having been for twenty years a contractor, enables 
me to explain, what was yesterday mad.e a grave subject of 
complaint against the department in the State which I have 
the honor to repre.-ent. 

In that State, among a number of ethers, Horatio Hill is 
a contractor for several routes. As his name happens to be 
associated with another who is the conductor of a newspa- 
per — for he is no political writer, and scarcely a politician 
himself — the keen optics of the committee were directed to 
the discovery of some alarming, some astounding favoritism 
in his case. They could not find, on a careful inspection of 
the contracts, any extra allowanc es, l)nt they did find what 
greatly alarmed tiio Senator from New-Jersey. They found 
written out on the face of his contracts, what I have good 
reason to believe they would have found written out'in other 
contrncts in that part of the country, a grant of what is call- 
ed the " newspaper privilege." Now, sir, can you diviiie 
what this newspai)er privilege means '? The Senator from 
New-Jersey appears to be altogether in the clouds on this 
matter; and lest he should continue to suppose that the 
newspaper privilege in the Granite State were some in- 
fernal machine, slaying his political friends by thousands, 
I will attempt to (piiet his apprehensions and set him right. 

In New-Hampshire as in some of the other New-England 
States, almost every farmer and mechanic is well informed 
on political affairs, and takes one or more newspapers. — 
Ever since I had any knowledge of that State, in most of 
the towns through whicli a mail carrier passed, these news- 
papers are carried and delivered by the carriers, at the 
doors of those who took them. The i^rivilege of the car- 
rying and delivering ol nsn-spipers out of the mail has been 



Apr^iNDix. 223 

UiKlioluibed ever since ilie establishment ol" llie i'ost Otlice 
Department, allhuitgli the law m'glit be so constiiio;d as to 
require that all uewspiipcrs should be carried in the mail. — 
'J'his practice had been continued without any notice of tlic 
newspaper privilege on the face of the contract, and news- 
papers were carried out of the mail through all parts of 
JVew-EngJand. About four or five years :)go, some agent of 
tlie department — and these agents have been kept up under 
all administrations — discovered that persons in some of the 
cities and larger towns, were in the habit of evading the 
payment of postage by wrapping their letters in a newspa- 
per and forwarding it in the mail stage. To correct this 
evil an order was issued from the department, directing the 
carriers to carry no newspapers out of the mail. As might 
be well supposed, this order was not well received by the 
newspaper readers, they could not readily consent, while tlie 
carrier passed daily by their doors, to travel a distance 
of half a dozen miles, or even one mile, to a post office to 
obtain their newspapers. The department very soon relax- 
ed its orders in relation to newspapers, and suffered the car- 
riers to take them as usual. In some instances, if not in 
all, where newspapers had been thus carried by contractors, 
to put an end to all doubt on the subject, the newspaper 
privilege — meaning the right to carry and deliver newspa- 
]yevs out of the mail — was noted in the proposals — and 
where the proposals were accepted this condition was of 
course entered on the face of the contract. This trifling 
incident, in no wise altering what had been the practice 
from time ijnmemoriul throughout the whole interior of New- 
England, is the whole amount of the enormity that has been 
perpetrated with malice prepense, by the department, in the 
case of Horatio Hill. If the Senator from New-Jersey, or 
the majority of the Post Office Committee will call for per- 
sons and papers at the department, he or they will probably 
find that there are cases of contract other than that of Ho- 
ratio Hill, in which this newspaper privilege has been in- 
serted ; at all events, they may ascertain, that the " news- 
paper privilege" is not confined to the State of New-Hamp- 
shire, or to one side of the political cjuestion, and that 
newspapers are carried out of the mail as well in Maine, 
Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut, as in New-Hamp- 
shire. 

***** * 

The political friends of the Senators who assail New- 
Hampshire who are mail contractors in that State will not 



224 APPENDIX. 

thank them for the manner in which their contracts are no- 
ticed. Even in that State, which is pointed at as a greater 
political sinner than her sisters, mnch the largest amount 
of money paid by the post office department to mail con- 
tractors, goes directly into the pockets of our political op- 
ponents ; and so long as they shall conduct as honorable 
opponents; so long as they shall continue to do business, 
and treat alike men on all sides of every political question; 
so long as they shall treat us as fairly as they do those who 
difibr from us in opinion; there will be little disposition on 
our part to deprive them of at least equal rights with oth- 
ers in an honorable competition for the pay and emoluments 
of carrying the public mails in the Granite State. 

I have said, sir, that the patronage of the post office de- 
partment is not confined to the friends of the administra- 
tion. Of the money paid to mail contractors; of the extra 
allowances made to mail contractors in the six New-Eng- 
land States, much the largest portion has been, and con- 
tinues to go into the hands of political opponents. T was 
in this city as a mail contractor in the fall of 1828, previous 
to the closing of my contracts with the Department. The 
New-England contractors were generally here at the time. 
I was not a little surprised to be told that I was the only 
open and decided friend of the election of Andrew Jackson 
among them all, and was asked how I could expect tb ob- 
tain any contracts. The contest was thea fierce aud warm. 
I was at that time the conductor of a newspaper, and had 
the fortune to be considered worthy of persecution for opin- 
ion's sake, by an accidental ascendency of a piebald party 
in my State, consisting principally of old federalists, aided 
by a portion of nominal republicans, who were more anx- 
ious for the honors and emoluments of office, than for the 
furtherance of any honest principle. The same contractors 
who were here in 1828, in most instances are now contract- 
ors; not one of {.hem, I will dare allege, has lost his 
contract, or been dejirived of the benefits of his bid by 
the present Postmaster General, on account of his political 
opiuions. 

******* 

On the whole, Ml". President, 1 cannot say I regret the 
scrutiny which the Post Office Department has encountered 
from the examination of a hostile committee. If that com- 
mittee, seeking occasions to criminate the department, has 
discovered any thing censurable, censure should be bestowed 
as it shall b© deserved. If the committee has told more than 



APPE^^DIX. 225 

was tiue oil otic rfiJc, there is also gooci icuhctn to believe 
that much uf the truth lemaiiiH to be told in lelatioii to the 
other side, if they have not spaied the transadions of the 
iVIends of tlie adaiinistralion in coniiexiun with the busi- 
ness of the department, there is certainly good reason to 
believe that the contracts and extra allowances for carrying 
mails, and the blanks, paper, and twine, and other jobs Inr- 
nished to their own friends, have passed entirely ftee from 
animadversion. 

I listened attentively to the reading- of both reports. I 
weighed earnestly the lescimony that was adduced to prove 
corruption or intententiunal misconduct, on either the head 
or subordinates of the dei)avtmenf, and I am constrained to 
say, that although the charges of raalconduct are made with 
great confidence, there is much less of evidence to sustain 
those charges than I had been lead to anticipate from the 
rimxors that were in circulation. 



M. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S FPEEv'Jll UN THE 
DELIVERY OF THE RESOLU I IONS OF THE 
NEW-HAMPSHIRE LEGISLATURE, In Senate of 
United States, 2Sd June, 1S34. 

Ever since the <|niet of the nation has been disturbed by 
public agitators in many portions uf the country, relative to 
the Bank of the L^nited States, the State of New-Hampsliire 
has pursued the even tenor of lier way — she has has lent n() 
helping hand to stir up the embers of public strife — she has 
taken no part in creating public panic and distress. 'J'hiee 
panic memorials only have been presen'ed to Congress from 
New-Hampshire, and these were trom a corner of the slate, 
embracing three towns, in one of which is a branch of the 
United States Bank, and in each of the two others are man- 
ufacturing establishments, principally owned and controlled 
by persons living beyond the limits of the State. The first 
naemorial was originated by the Bank itself— the two others 
were the work of persons under the influence of die Bank, 
and not belonging to the State. The three «:on(ained about 
«'!c\en hundred names, of a population comprising nearly or 



2*36 APPENDIX. 

quite three hundred thousand souls; and counting all the 
petitioners as citizens, scarcely one fiftieth part of the legal 
voters of the state have come here to ask either for the res- 
toration of the deposites, or the recharter of the Bank of the 
United States. 

The citizens of New-Hampshire, of the months that have 
been expended in reading and listening to speeches on me- 
morials, have not probably taken a single hour of this ses- 
sion of Congress as their share. The democratic majority 
of that State has taken up none of your time — it has freely 
expressed its opinions, both at public meetings and at the 
polls, but it has contributed nothing towards interrupting 
the deliberations of Congress — it has sent no committees 
here to overawe the constituted authorities. And now, sir, 
the Legislature, the immediate Representatives of the Peo- 
ple of New-Hainpshire, have a right to claim your attention. 

This Legislature was elected by the People on the second 
Tuesday of March last, at a point of time when the greatest 
alarm pervaded the community. The friends of the Bank, 
and the party opposed to the General Administration, made 
greater efforts to elect members of the House of Representa- 
tives in the several towns, than they had done at any time 
since 1830. The result ol' these efforts is seen in the vote 
of the. House on these resolutions — one hundred and sixty- 
three Representatives, after a discussion of three days, vo- 
ting for the resolutions, and only sixty-two against them. — 
If all the Representatives had been present, tlie vote would 
have beeli one hundred and sixty-seven to sixty-threo. 

But in the Senate these resolutions had a unanimous vote. 
That body consists of twelve members elected annually in 
as many Districts, and in these twelve Districts, not a sin- 
gle opnosition man was returned. 

** * * * * * * 

The resolutions which I shall present, were offered in the 
House of Representatives on the same day that the Govern- 
or's message was communicated. Although the Legislature 
of this State had always been very decided in its political 
character, it is believed no parallel case since the adoption 
of her constitution, exists, where both a new Governor and 
Legislature have evinced so unequivocal and decided a spir- 
it on national polities, as have this governor and legislature. 
This expression was moved at the first moment after the or- 
ganization of the state government; and it proves the deep 
interest that is there felt in the present crisis, and the deter- 
mined epirit of the people of New-Hampshire to resist all 



APPENDIX. 227 

encroachments on their rights, and to put an end to that 
odious monopoly whidi assumes to stand in the place of the 
government. 

The resokitions which I shall ask to be read, are not 
couched in language disrespectful ; they speak as freemen have 
a right to speak, in a tone worthy the best days of the Repub- 
lic. The opinions here given, are in thq main decidedly 
averse to those of a majority of this Senate. 

These resolut'ons say, that the course of the administra- 
tion and of the President, is entirely approved; and that 
the latter, by his endeavors to restore the constitution to its 
original purity; by his integrity and firmness; by staying 
the expenditure of the public money in an unconstitutional 
system of internal improvements; by settling thetariff on a 
satisfjictory basis; by his resistance of all measures tending 
to a dissolution of the Union: by his veto on the bank bill; 
and the stand he has taken ag-ainst the alarming proceed- 
ings of the Bank itself, has proved himself to be a true disci- 
ple of Thomas Jefferson the fatlier of American democracy. 
That he only exercised a power conferred on him by the 
constitution, recognized by tiie example of all his predeces- 
sors, when he removed from office the late Sscretary of the 
Tieasury. That the present Secretary of the Treasury, in 
removing the deposites of public money from the Bank of the 
United States, has violated neither the letter nor the spirit 
of the charter of the Bank ; and that his course is fully ap- 
proved by the People, and was demanded by the protiigate 
conduct of the officers of the Bank. That- the Bank of the 
United States ought not to be re-chartered — because, un- 
constitutional in its creation, it has proved itself to be an 
institution of thefmost deadly hostility to the free principles 
of our Government, attempting to sustain itself and to obtain 
for its friends political power, by a course of bribery and 
corruption, setting at defiance the Representatives of the 
People, and veiling its transactions in secrecy and darkness. 
That the late Protest of the President of the United States, 
against that extraordinary and unprecedented resolution of 
the Senate, which pronounced him guilty of a most flagrant 
ofience widiout either hearing or trial, was a measure justi- 
fied by his personal right to vindicate his own charncter from 
unmerited reproach, and his imperative official duty to de- 
fend the Executive branch, while in his charge, from 
all intemperate assaults or unconstitutional encroachments; 
and that the Senate, in passing such a resolution, violated 
the first principles of justice, and unfitted themselves for the 



±1^ 



APPF.NDIX. 



proper (ii.«c!iar^e of (hose official diuios wliicli hy the Coii- 
PtiUition (if their clmrges were true) they were bound to be- 
lieve liie House of Representatives would soon invoke thein 
to perform. And they instruct the Senators in Congress 
from New-Hampshire to vole that the resolution wliich they 
condemn be expunged from the Journal of the vSenate. 7'Ut^v 
approve of the course of their delegation in both branches of 
Congress with a single exception;* and they request him to 
resign his place, who "has long misrepresented, and now 
TTiisre-presents, the opinion of a majority of his constituents.'" 
I have the pleasure to state, from intelligence received this 
morning, that a new choice, in this solitary case, has been 
rnade; and that the expression in this new choice is no less 
decided than was that in each branch on the resolutions in 
favor of the administration. 

These, Mr. President, are the sentiments of a State, 
which, although inferior in wealth and numbers to many of 
the other states of the Union, is second to no state in point 
of intelligence, integrity and patriotism. The citizens of 
this state have ever i)een among the first to come forward 
in defence of their country's rights. The war of the revolu- 
tion, and the war of 1812, bear witness to their valor. No 
state, in proportion to her size, has sent forth more warri- 
ors, fought mtne valiantly, or bled more profusely. The 
time has been, before she knew herself, that this state was 
led in her political opinions by the influence of the metrop- 
olis of a sister state — when the money and the mercantile 
cupidity of that metropolis kept her in leading-strings. Tlie 
day has gone by. The hardy yeomanry of New-Hampshire 
have become independent in property, as they are in free 
spirit. They rest on their own resources and their own 
judgment — they are under the head of no man or set of men. 
The millions of a monopoly cannot corrupt them, nor can a 
hundred thousand bank speeches, circulated gratuitously a- 
niong them, change their opinions. 



* Referring to the colleague of Mr. Hi 



APPENDIX. 221) 



N. 



EXTRACT FROM MR. IIITJ-'S LETTER TO THE 
REPUBLICANS OF CONCORD, dnlcd 

Washington, 28 June, 1834. 
The present session of Congress has l)een marked, beyond 
all others which have preceded it, with efforts and events 
which cannot soon be forgotten by the people. A chartered 
monied Institution that had for years basked on the public 
favor, and assumed to control the vvliole operations of busi- 
ness in the cotmtry, came into Congress at the commence- 
ment of the session. It had previously interfered in the 
elections thronghout the countrj- — it had failed in a great 
effort to supercede the present Chief Magistrate by placing 
in that station one of its Attorneys and partisans, and it 
had poured out its money like water, to give its friends 
places in either branch of Congress. Although in several 
instances it succeeded in securing the election of nominal 
friends to the President, who were leally its friends, in Dis- 
tricts where in an open contest it would have found no fa- 
vor, yet it is now a settled point, that independent of the 
doubtful, there is a decided majority in the House of Rep- 
resentatives opposed to the Bank. In that body the struggle 
has been a iearful one. The Bank has expended vast sums 
of money in urging the citizens of commercial and trading 
towns and districts to force on their Representatives a 
change of their votes; but it has scarcely been able in 
any instance wliere it has desired a change, to show a ma- 
jority of the people even in those places, favorable to a re- 
charter. The partizans of the Bank in the House have 
hesitated in the performance of no act, in the resort to no 
expedient, which was calculated to further its views. But, 
so far as relates to that body, the cause of Truth and Jus- 
tice has signally triumphed — the Bank and the Bank Attor- 
neys have been voted down in that body on every important 
question, and although questions have been delayed day af- 
ter day, week after week, and month after month, yet the 
termination of the whole matter in that branch, has been a 
greater majority on the last important question taken, 
(thebill regulating the deposite of the public money in the 
State Banks,) than on tlie previous and preliminary ques- 
tion. 

An impetus to the o|)p()sition to the Bank in the House 

20 



'230 APPF.rsDix. 

has been given, l)y the failure of that branch of the Goverr- 
inciit in its attempt to investigate the concerns of that insti- 
tution. The charter had expressly jirovided for an exam- 
ination by either House of Congress, info the concerns and 
proceedings of the Bank; but in defiance of tl)at clause of 
the charter, all access to these concerns and proceedings 
was denied by the Bank. Tliis institution had long laid 
under the imputation of making corrupt appliances for the 
purchase of editors and newspapers, and for carrying on 
electioneering operations generally. Worse than this if pos- 
sible; there was reason to believe that the operations of tlie 
Bank on the business of the country, through its secret com- 
mittee — its cutting off the usual facilities for exchange — its 
curtailment of discounts at some points, while it expanded 
its accommodations at other points, either from favor, or to 
be able at a future time to curtail with more efliect— had 
been the procuring cause of the pecu.iiary distress that had 
pervaded many parts of the country. An examination such 
as was contemplated by the Resolutions of the House, would 
liave disclosed every thing that the people, who have an in- 
terest in this question, could have desired. If such an ex- 
amination would have shown that the Bank had not been 
corrupt in its management — that it had not purchased polit- 
ical presses — that it had not expended large sums of money 
to pay for the millions of speeches in jjamphlets and news- 
papers circulated gratuitously throughout the'country — that 
it had not cut off the exchanges and interrupted the ordina- 
ry mercantile transactions of the country; can it be believ- 
ed that the managers of the Bank would have suffered the 
opportunity to pass for furnishing evidence of its innocence? 
The refusal of the Bank to answer the questions put to it 
by the committee of the House, or to suffer its books to be 
examined, \s prima facie evidence of guilt in its worst as- 
pect — it is a confession not only that it is guilty of the 
charges which have been preferred against it, but of almost 
every other offence which we might imagine it would have 
an interest to commit. 

But it is not in the House of Representatives where the 
worst aspect of things has appeared. The Senate of the 
United States, at this time has at least three members who 
are aspirants for the Presidency, each embittered to the 
highest degree against the existing Chief Magistrate, and 
each having a motive to throw every embarrassment in the 
way of his administration. From its very commencement 
on the fourth of March 1829, we have seen two of these 



APPIIXDIX. 231 

three men \f ith their follower?, pursuing- the most reckless 
course of opposition. At first, while tliey were nominally 
of ti minority in the Senate, they were more restrained in 
their acts and less daring in tlieir execution, than they have 
been nsore recently. There was not, for the two first years, 
an open alliance between the interests of the three; one of 
the aspirants was then in the Vice President's chair, nom- 
iniilly the friend of the administration. I'he next session of 
Congress after Andrew Jackson was inaugurated, may be 
marked as a new era in the history of the Executive Icgis- 
1 ition of th.e Senate. At that session the nominations of 
tiie President were suffered to lie for months without a de- 
cision. One of the aspirants generally had it in his power 
to control the confirmation or rejection of the nominees, and 
while ihese nominees were in duress, the candidate and his 
friends were plied for the purpose of di>covering whether 
or not they willing to become (partisans of him ^^ho aspired 
to succeed Gen. Jackson at tlie eiui of his first four years, 
and who purely because he could not throw the whole influ- 
ence of the administiation into his scale for that purpose, 
became henceforward its bitter and unrelenting enemy. — 
The history of the intrigues which broke up the first Cabi- 
net of President J-.ickson is now pretty well understood. 
Tlie events of that day — the means ])ursued to interrupt so- 
ciety and social intercourse in the city of Washington, for 
the purpose of breaking up this cabinet — need not at this 
time be recounted. 

From the commencement of the first session of the last 
Congress, the opposition, embracing a majority of the Sen- 
ate of the United States, has waged a warfare rigainst the 
President and his administration, which is without a paral- 
lel in the history of this Government. Having been an eye 
M'itness of the course taken b}' the men who constitute tl.o 
opposition to Andrew Jackson in this body, if I may be al- 
lovved in any case to judge of men's motives by their acts, I 
say fearlessly, that the w hole scope of their efforts has been, 
not to legislate usefully fi'i" the country, whenever useful leg- 
islation should at all militate with their views as bitter par- 
tisans. 

To create all the agitation and discontent possible among 
the people seems to have been the leading object of the op- 
position leaders in tlie Senate. Every measure that could 
appeal i to the mercenary feolirgs of the pcf pie has been 
stirred whenever stirring could produce an effect. A large 
portion of the people, especially at the South, had become 



'-itj*^ APPExVDIX. 

deeply excited under the operation of die tariff laws. Evciy 
pcts.-il.ile expedient was devised to pievent an amicable ad- 
justment ol" that fjuestion — the north was pulling one way — 
the south was palling the other way. Each was contending 
for interests irreconcilable to the other. Propositions for ad- 
justmentof the vexed question, were repeatedly made by ti.e 
Executive, in such a reduction of duties as ought to recon- 
cile all portions of the countrj'. The public sentiment even 
in those sections of the country supposed to be most friendly 
to a high tariff, v\'as fast settling down upon such a reduc- 
tion of the imposts as the Executive of the nation had rec- 
ommended. The great leader of the "American System" 
saw this tendency of the public eentiment, and was alarm- 
ed. Like the fickle weathercock, he suddenly veered round 
from point Noith East to point South West; he executes on 
this point a treaty offensive ond defensive with the Nullitiers 
of Carolina, conceding at once all that the South retjulred 
in ndation to the tariff ; he tiansfers his Eastern tariff 
friends like so many cattle over to the opposite doctrine, a- 
gainst which he had so ardently contended, and s.itislies 
them that their interest had been consulted in this arrange- 
ment; and the high contracting parties attempt to despoil 
the administration and its friends of all the credit that was 
their due for having laid tlie foundation to relieve the jjeople 
of at least one half of the burdens v\hich the high tariff had 
imposed. 

Before closing this letter, I would advert to the rejection 
of several conspicuous gentlemen nominated for ofiice by the 
President. Until the present opposition obtained a majori- 
ty of the Senate, it had been considered as a matter of course 
to consult the wishes of the President alone in his selection 
of Cabinet officers — it had not been supposed that the Sen- 
ate, confessedly not representing the public sentiment,should 
prescribe to a Chief Rlagistrate representing a vast majori- 
ty of the nation which elected him, terms as to the opinions 
of his own counsellors and advisers. Roger B. Tankv, 
a man as irreproachable in private life, as he is unsurpassed 
in qualifications for any public position in which he might 
be placed; the second day after his nomination as Secretary 
of the Treasury, has been rejected by the Senate. — Anil Ai)- 
drrw Stevenson, who foi' the last seven years had presided 
over the House of Kepresontatives with not less approbation 
than any man who had ever sustained the same office — a 
man uo less amiable in social life than he was prompt and 



APPENDIX. 233 

able in llie discliatgc of every public duty — lias also been 
rejected ; l-olh of lliese gentlemen within the lat^t few days. 
These men have been proscribed merely for entertaining' o- 
pinions adverse to the majority t>f the jjienate of the United 
States in relation to the Bank. Madness alone could pro- 
scribe two such men, when those who had the power to re- 
ject knew that their rejection could not prevent others with 
opinions alike obnoxious from sujiplying their place. 

I will conclude this letter by proposing the following senti- 
ment, and am, Kesi)cctfully, 

Your ob't servant, 

ISAAC HILL. 

The Senate of the United States. — Useless as a check 
ivhen it ontiages the public sentiment — worse than useless 
as a balance when its scale turns against justice. 



o. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SrEECII AT THE 
DIININER GIVEN HIM AT HAVERHILL, N. H., 22 

Oct. 1834. 

Besides citizens of this State and county, I perceive gen- 
tlemen present from the adjacent Stale of Vermont. That 
State is quite as democratic in principle, if not in present 
practice as any of her sisters : during the last war, and in 
the great Presidential contest of 1812, Vermont was the last 
of the States of New-England to desert the democratic 
standard. And she would now have been among the fore- 
most to support the general administiation, had not an hon- 
est and unaccountable delusion been practised upon her by 
the adversary, 'i hat very delusion, under the circumstances, 
does credit to the character of her citizens. Many lionest 
men have been honestly drawn into Antimasonry. It is not 
surprising that jealous republicans, after the abduction und 
cold blooded murder of a fellow mortal, oflcrthe ])ains that 
had been taken to identify that murder with tbe whole Ma- 
sonic fraternity, should have looked on Freemasonry as dan- 
gerous to the liberties of the country. 

I have good reaso)i to believe that the propagation of An- 
timasonry wan! one of those plots, inany of which have been 

20-^ 



234 AlTKiNDlX. 

invented by the party vvlio have attempted in various shapeB 
to dekide and mislead the people, believing they might be 
misled with impunity. Ceitaia leading politicians opposed 
to the democracy, some of whom were themselves freema- 
sons, were dee|)ly concerned in propagating this delusion, 
that the public mind might be diverted from the true ques- 
tion in issue. A large sum of money was raised among the 
office holders in Wasliington in 1827 to establish Antima- 
sonic presses in the westerly part of the State of New- York. 
Succeeding vvel! there, another agent in the confidence of 
Henry Clay (a high mason) came to Vermont in 1829, and 
travelled through the >-'tate lecturing and preachirg on the 
subject of Autimasonry, and so well succeeded as to pro- 
cure for himself an election to Congress. This? agent since 
{he commencement of the present session of the Vermont 
legislature has been at the seat of government and earnestly 
contended fjr the proposition that the Antimasonic party, 
which is the most numerous party in that State, should be 
dissolved and join en masse the self styled whig party! 

There is evidently a serious schism in the Antimasonic 
party of Vermont. A jjortion of that party arehonest dem- 
ocrats opposed to the United Stales Bank. They already 
see that the intention of the political Antimasons who unite 
themselves to the aristocracy is to make them the merest in- 
struments; that that those political Antimasons are at heart 
tory federalists, determined that no honest republican shall 
hold any oflice. These are ready and anxious to unite with 
ibeir brother democrats with whom they were wont to act in 
former times. Within a few days the Antimasons of Ver- 
mont have separated into two divisions, and there is little 
probability that diey will ever again come together. The 
charm is brolien in that State — the whole democracy of the 
State will unite; and we need not be surprised before the 
next great contest for the Tresidency, to see the Green- 
Mountain Boys acting in full communion with the great 
democratic phalanx of the Union. 

******* 

An honorable Senator from Blassachusetts also made hi.s 
appearance at the Concord dinner "gladly in the character 
of a witness to bear conscientious and ready testimony to 
the able manner in which he [Mr. Bell] has supported the 
interest and credit of the State." If to disobey the voice of 
his constituents — if to treat iht lieojjle of his State with 
nuM.ked scorn and contumely — if to reproach those Avho have 
Leen repeatedly elected to important ollicca as being "the 



APPENDIX. 235 

••--cnui of the polilical pot" — if vioUiliou of his own plighted 
faith to resign when he shoukl no longei- represent the will 
of his constituents — if charging those who disagree with 
him in opinion with th.e "vilest corruption" — be supporting 
"the interest and credit of the State," then has the volunta- 
ry "witness" spoken the truth in this case. It surely need- 
ed sonie witness, not from another world, but at least from 
another State — from the federal "Bay State" — to convince 
any respectable number of citizens that the gentleman who 
had misrepresented the people of his State for nearly six 
years, had ahly "supported the interest and credit of his 
State." The tw^o gentlemen together would subserve the 
"interest and the credit" of the people of New-Hampshire 
by saving them from their worst enemies — themselves ! This 
is truly in character for the aristocrat and contemner of the 
people's rights ! 

But the "witness" from Massachusetts has discovered "if 
the ancient revolutionary heroes of New-Hampshire — Lang- 
don, Whii)ple, Bartletc, Gilman, Sullivan, Poor, Stark, 
&c. were now in the land of the living, every man of them 
would be on our side !" Does any man believe that these 
Patriots, if now living, would have espoused the cause of 
the self-styled whigs of the present day ? [Yes, exclaimed 
a revolutionary man — Gilman probably might, but not one 
the rest.] Gilman was not, as I have understood, a revo- 
lutionary hero — I never heard that he either took up arms, 
or warmly espoused the American cause. But John Lang- 
don and John Stark were living (said Mr. H.) since I ar- 
rived at the age of manhood — 1 knew them both — 1 knew 
the former personally to oppose Daniel Webster at the polls 
in Portsmouth, and I knew both Langdon and Stark, while 
living, to be objects of the inveterate political hatred of the 
witness from Magsachusetts. If either of them had been in 
active life during the late war. — as both of them, advanced 
to great age, took a strong interest in that contest — he would 
have done what the Massachusetts Senator never did — he 
would have marched to meet the enemy. If either of them 
had been in Congress, he would have voted, not as the Mas- 
sachusetts Senator voted, against supplies for the army and 
navy, against raising men and money, but to furnish and 
sustain both. The gentleman would have found much to hid 
chagrin that neither Langdon or Stark would have been on 
his side m that memorable contest, nor in any other politi- 
cal contest in which he ever was engaged. The ears of the 



236 APPEiNDlX. 

wolf are too palpable to cover such detestable hypocrisy from 
such a source in appeals to the men of the revolution. 
******* 

I have, said Mr. H. in my whole course as a legislator, 
voted against the charteiiiig of Banks. I have considered 
the effect of paper credit and paper circulation to be injuri- 
ous to the great interests of the people. Those \vho look 
back twenty-five years well recollect the evils which the 
peojile of this State tlien suffered from the sudden multipli- 
cation of Banks. The people of the county of Grafton from 
that day to the present have felt the effects of a bank mo- 
nopoly in a few hands; do they want a money accommoda- 
tion, not one in ten can procure it at the bank — but money 
can be had of somebody near the bank, may be at twelve, 
may be at twenty per cent. 

Incredible as it may seem, the multiplication of banks 
and fictitious paper credit makes money more scarce in a 
time of scarcity in the pjecise ratio that it makes money too 
plenty when it cannot be used to the advantage of the hold- 
er, it is the paper system which produces sudden lluctua- 
tions and revulsions in trade. 

The introduction of a specie currency is the best remedy 
against sudden revulsions in trade and credit. Late events 
have aroused the public attention ; and I trust that soon the 
Legislatures of the several States will put an end to the cir- 
culation of small bank notes, l)eginning with those under five 
dollars, and gradually excluding them under ten and even un- 
der twenty dollars, if it shall be found useful. Already has the 
gold bill of the last session of Congress had its beneficial 
effect, especially in the state of Pennsylvania, where bank 
notes of less than five dollars had been exclued. That 
bill aided by state regulation will make gold a substitute 
for rag currency — it will be the means of placing the cur- 
rency of the country on a foundation that cannot be shaken 
by ail the panic makers that self-styled whigs can send into 
Congress — it will place it beyond the power of banks or a 
combination of banks to shake the public credit. 

1 ha\e said 1 am opposed to state banks. When a mem- 
ber of the House of Representaiives of this state in 1826, I 
take to myself some credit for having aided by my efforts in 
defeating the charter of a batch of fourteen banks which 
were then applied for in this state, and to procure which 
there had been a combination of local interests from several 
considerable towns of the state. Since that time, a few 
banks have been granted by way of defence against the in- 



APPKNDIX. 237 

ro.'uls made by the numerous grants of othei' states. These 
t;tate banks are all subject to state taxation, and contribute 
to the suj^port of the public treasury; being under the con- 
trol of our legislatures, they are not as dangerous as they 
might otherwise be. But restricted and guarded even as 
ihey are, they aie still attended with evils of which, in the 
interior country, it may be a question whether these are not 
greater than the corresponding benefits. 

******* 

With any other man as President to resist its insidious 
power than Andrew Jackson, the Bank would probably have 
been successful. Defeated in the hard struggle of the last 
Presidency, the Bank had determined to put forth its whole 
strength in the next election; and for this ])urpose was hus- 
banding its means to pounce upon the people in 1835-6. — 
The President, foreseeing what would be its enormous pow- 
er if aided by the whole government funds, prudently resol- 
ved to exercise the discretion left to the Executive by the 
charter of withdrawing the government deposites from the 
Bank, and, by m much, lessening the power of themonopoly 
to iiijisre the community. For this act of withdrawal, the 
Bank attornies and all its minions have not ceased to cry out 
"Tyrant !" "A violated Constitution!" "Restore the Con- 
stitution and the Laws !" when we may fearlessly defy the 
combined ingenuity of all the Bank partisans in the country 
to point out in what particular the withdrawal of the depos- 
ites has violated either the constitution or the law ! The 
wisdom of the man who alone is entitled to the credit of de- 
stroying the Hydra is manifest in depriving the beast of its 
means to injure before its fangs were whetted and prepared 
to sti ike the fatal blow; the desperation of the Bank and 
its retainers is increased in proportion to the disappoint- 
ment they have felt at being compelled to take the field with- 
out that ample preparation that the whole means of the gov- 
ernment would give them. This desperation is evinced in 
the reoent elections in some of our cities where newspaper 
editors and men have been "bought like cattle in the mar- 
ket," and where blood has flowed from the stilletto and the 
fire arms used by Bank assassins. It is likewise evinced in 
that arrogance which assumed to deny to a committee of 
Congress an investigation as provided by the charter; that 
its enormities in attempting to bring distress and ruin on the 
country, and in corrupting the very sources of public liberty 
might be concealed. The same desperation is also evinced 
in the forcible seizure by the bank of !if'15S,000 of the pub- 



238 APPENDIX. 

lie money, with no better excuse than I should have to entw 
on the premises of my neighbor, and, under the pleaof chiim 
but without taking any legal steps to establish it, forcibly 
seize to my own use whatever property came within my 
vendi. 



P. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR. HILL'S SPEECH ON THE 

TENURE OF OFFICE, In Senate of United States. 

22d Feb. 1835. 

There seems to be a sort of hydrophobia dread of rem<>v- 
als from office whenever a certain party is at the bottom of 
the wheel. The Senator from Kentucky says, the princip.le 
of dismissing men from office is a new principle — that it 
commenced about six years ago, when Gen. Jackson first 
C'Mtie into oftice. So great has been the burden on the mind 
of the Senator since that time, that ho may be readily excu- 
sed for not recollecting what took place during the adminis- 
tration immediately preceding that of Gen Jackson. — Does 
lie remember that the editors of the two principal democrat- 
ic newspapers in Maine and New-Hampshire, which had 
'done the State some service,' while contending in a fearful 
minority during the war with Great Britain, were proscri- 
bed because they would not put on and wear the (hen exec- 
utive collar? Does he recollect the declaration then made 
by a Secretary of State (Mr. Clay) relative to one of those 
newspapers when the Representatives of the State recjuested 
his reasons for proscribing its editor, that he would 'have 
no neutrals?' Does he remember that this Secretary pro- 
ceeded to make these removals, as was stated at the time, 
even against the wishes or without consulting the Represen- 
tatives of the People of those States ? 

The Senator has complimented the veteran Gerry for his 
opposition to the doctrine of Executive removals in ihe Con- 
gress of 1789. Il he had been conversant with CJerry's ad- 
ministration, while at the head of the Executive of Massa- 
chusetts, in 1810 and ISll, he would have seen that he car- 
ried the doctrine of removals, in just retaliation of the uni- 
versal proscriiotlon by the opposite party, much further than 
it has been carried by President Jackson. The name of the 



APPENDIX. 2o9 

revokuionary patriot was made a by-word witli the aristoc- 
racy of Massachusetts, becciuse he had the independence to 
prefer his own political friends to his political enemies, in 
his appointments to office. He was even arrested for debt 
ou the day of tlie annual election, by his political enemies, to 
sliow their spite for his fidelity to the democratic party. 

The Senator says, the people of the West cannot and will 
not submit to the turning out of officers; and he seems to 
take it for granted that the present administration alone is 
guilty of the enormous offence of preferring its friends to its 
enemies. Whit has the Senator himself been doing for the 
la^t six years ? Have not his nightly cogitations and his 
daily speeches been directed to the business of turning out 
the 'hungry' and 'haggard' crew, who have obtained offices 
under Gen. Jackson .' Can any man believe the Senator 
would have consented to the confirmation of any officer dif- 
fering in opinion with him, if he could, by withholding that 
consent, have forced the appointment of one of his political 
friends 1 

It would be drfficult for any friend to the administration 
in the Senate soon to forgot the "armor and the attitude" of 
the honorable Senator from Kentucky, during the session of 
one year ago. The 'Long and Hungry* exultation at the old 
Hanover election in Virginia, in which our friends were 
turned out, and the Senator's friends were in full tide of 
success, had such an impression on my mind, that I have 
been scarcely able to think of any thing else than 'Long and 
Hungry' for office every time I have cast my eyes at the seat 
of the honorable Senator. It was most manifest, Mr. Pr«s- 
ident, that the principal pleasure then anticipated by the 
Senator and his friends, was that of turning every Jackson 
man out of office that could be reached, either by the Exec- 
utive, Legislative, or Elective power. The whole busiuess 
of the honorable Senator for years seems to ha\e been, ci- 
ther directly or indirectly, to bring about that state of things 
which would leave the coast clear, to the turning out of eve- 
ry political enemy, that the Senator himself and his friends 
might step into their places. 

******* 

Removals from office, after all, have been the great and 
crying sin of the Post-Otfice Department since Gen. Jackson 
came into office. From the opinions which have been ad- 
vanced in the Senate Chamljer, we might suppose that after 
a man is once seated in oiSee, he has a right to it for life; 
it is very inconvenient for him to give it up, since he (.\o. 



940 APPEi\DIX. 

pends upon it for a living; lie has made Ins arrangeincn'tP 
to keep it, and it will but deprive his children of bread to 
take from him his oHice. 

I rare not whence comes such a doctiine, whether from 
the North or the h'outh, the East or the West. I saj^ no 
man is entitled to an offiee one momant longer than he is 
useful in that office, nor has he the right to complain if the 
]>ower which gave it, at any time shall see fit to take it a- 
way. When a man accepts an office, lie cither considers it 
a matter of favor to himself or favor to the public; if it be 
a favor to himself, how are his rights invaded by discontin- 
ing that favor ? If he accepts the office at a personal sacri- 
fice, he ought to be thankful to bo relieved of the duty. 

The doctrine that once in an yffice of emoluments gives a 
man a claim to "be always in office, will not stand alone. If 
we would see this government becoming one of the most 
corrupt on earth, we should favor the appointment of men 
to office for life. And this would hardly go fur enough; for 
the poor children who would suffer if their father was de- 
prived of office during his life, would certainly have stronger 
claims to the same office after the father was dead, when 
they were still more helpless. 

In the elder Adams' time, the federalists very well under- 
stood the advantage of the influence and emoluments of office. 
In the State of New-Hampshire, from 1797 to 1804, no man 
who did not subscribe to the doctrines of the alien and sedi- 
tion laws could even be appointed a justice of the peace. In 
1798, a demociat clergyman was turned out of the office of 
chaplain, after a formal trial before the Legislature,because 
he happened to omit naming the President of the United 
States in his morning prayers. All the offices from high to 
low were filled by friends of the administration. The ven- 
erable Whipple, and Gardner, the one collector of 
Portsmouth, and the other commissioner of loans for the 
state, who had been appointed by Washington, were both 
dismissed from office by Adams, because their names were 
not found upon an adulatory address lo the President whiclv 
had been circulated at Portsmouth. 

Mr. Jeflerson came into the President's office in 1801; 
and what did he do ? Without assigning his reasons to 
the Senate, he reinstated his own jiolitical friends, and he 
dismissed others who were his opponents. Whipple and 
Gardner were reinstated in New-Hampshire. Did Mr. 
Jeffijrson place other than a political friend in any consider- 
aljle office ? Did he not remove officers in repeated instair- 



APPENDIX. 241 

cea for no other renson than that they were opposed to the 
principles which elevated the repnl)lican party, and raised 
him to the Presidency 1 

During his administration and the greater part of that of 
James Madison, Gideon Granger of Connecticut was the 
Postmaster General. The post offices in ISOO, were not 
more than one for every ten at this time. Yet during those 
two administrations, in almost every considerable office, a 
change of postmaster was made for no other reason than that 
the incumbent was not friendly to the administration. 

These two cases are only specimens of the general turning 
out of federal postmasters in New-England, by Gideon 
Granger. It was not then as it is now ; there were no 
charges exhibited against the incumbent waitingfor answers 
and explanations. If the democrats in any town were dis- 
satisfied with their postmaster, they wrote to the Postmas- 
ter General, generally through John Langdon, the well 
known patriot of the Granite State, and the removal was as 
sure to take place as the day is to succeed the night. 

The removals under the administration of James Madison 
were even more decisive in their character than uader Thom- 
as Jefferson. All the more kicrative post offices that Mr. 
Jefterson had left in the hands of the federalists, were by 
Mr. Madison, changed to other hands. In Boston, in Ports- 
mouth, Newburyport, Hartford, Baltimore, and all other 
places where a change was desired, changes for political 
reasons alone, were made ; the most of them under Mr. 
Madison. And it is well known that for refusing to remove 
the Postmaster at Philadelphia for political reasons only, at 
the instance and direction of the President, Gideon Gran- 
ger hhnself was turned out of the office of Postmaster Gen- 
eral. Looking back to the administration of Mr. Madison, 
it must be recollected that he had even less aftection for his 
political opponents than almost any other President. 

It will thus be seen that the doctrine of change and rota- 
tion in office is not new. The old federalists at first insisted 
that no democrat was fit for any office, and never suffered 
any to be apointed while they had the power. The demo- 
crats, as was natural, when they obtained the ascendancy, 
as a matter of necessity, made removals of their adversaries, 
because, as Mr. Jefterson then said, "few died, and none re- 
signed." From that day to this, much the larger share of 
permanent offices, depending upon executive appointment, 
has been held bv the party in this country adverse to popu- 

21 



242 APPENDIX. 

lar rights. The party has not scrupled, in all instances 
where they had the power, to turn out their adversaries. — 
Nor has it ceased to claim their right to remain in office, 
when the tables have been turned upon them. On ihe one 
hand they never cease to cry out "proscription for opinion's 
sake," while on the other, their very creed is based on that 
spirit of persecution which will tolerate in office, or even 
in proi^perous business, no man who thinks difierentiy from 
themselves. 

It is to old Virginia, to Jefferson and Madison, that vvp 
are indebted for the republican example of doing justice to 
our own political friends when we are in the ascendency. — 
They were not quite so magnanimous as Virginians have on 
some occasions since been. They did not think it of so lit- 
tle consequence what a man's political opinions were, to e- 
lect men as members of tlie Legislature, who were decided 
political opponents, and ihus give a character to one branch 
of her representation in Congress hostile to the principles 
which she has ever professed. 

After the examples of Jefferson and Madison, sanctioned 
as they were by the strong public sentiment of the country, 
should it be imputed to the present administration as a crime, 
that it prefers its friends to its enemies? It was abundant- 
ly evident, during the panic of last winter., that a large ma- 
jority of the army of office-holders in this District belonged 
to the opposition Men who had been neutral before, view- 
ing the triumph of the Bank, in its great contest for power, 
certain, did not hesitate to come out. Indeed, at this mo- 
ment, the enemies of the administration stand a much better 
chance for favor than its friends, in every Thing that depends 
upon Congress. All officers who want increased salaries — 
all who want increased expenditures, great appropriations, 
and great patronage; all who want to press doubtful claims 
to a favorable result; know very well on what side to look 
for favors. 

As to removal of Postmasters, I am of opinion that the 
present Postmaster General has been in fault, and that fault 
is, that he has not, in some places, made changes where he 
ought to have made them. There are counties in New-Eng- 
land with thirty to sixty Post Offices, and scarcely a demo- 
cratic Postmaster among them all. Perhaps not one in five 
of the offices in some of the New-England States is in the 
hands of a friend of the administration. It is well known 
hat ihe opposition party in New-England not only do not 
tufTer the friends of the adaiinistration to be appointed to 



APPENDIX. 



245 



-» lucrative place for years, and his more needy neighbor, . 

^ T i o rSefe netlr Jm be a'change against „s ,„ the 
1 f-^., <tf a President when a general turn-out ol all oui 
? L' ri /office'wdd'nJt take ?lace, so could I not cou.U 
much on the value of thut advice from any professed pol.t.ca 
Sd who tells us that we ought when we succeed m an 
elec ioirourselves,to let our enemies vemam in ;!»«etpos.es 
gion of all the offices of our Government depending on the 

^Sevrn^it tendency of the bill will be to give, he incum- 
bentfin office a life-estate in their respectne ofhees-t 'at it 
w^ll create a corps of men having interests and feehngs ad- 
^e e to tho spirit of our republican inst.tut.ons, and to tl e 
inlereS, and feelings of the great body of the Teople-l will 
record my vote against it. 



a. 

The luuuerous correspondents of Mr. ^^^^^^^^^ 
recognize a correct vepresentauon of ^'f /'f"^; 
writing in the following >c simiie, engraved by a 
young artist of Boston. 




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